A Room With A View Details

A Room With A View

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E.M. Forster's 1908 novel, A ROOM WITH A VIEW, is adapted for the screen by director James Ivory in this beautifully lighthearted tale of Edwardian manners. Helena Bonham Carter stars as a young Englishwoman, Lucy Honeychurch. When Lucy and her spinster chaperone, Charlotte Bartlett (Maggie Smith), travel to Florence, they meet an unconventional Englishman, Mr. Emerson (Denholm Elliott), and his romantically unhappy son, George (Julian Sands). After George makes the grievous mistake of kissing Lucy during a picnic in the Florentine hills, Charlotte rushes her back to England. Safely home, Lucy becomes engaged to the stiff, very proper Cecil (Daniel Day-Lewis), but after finding out the Emersons have moved close by, Lucy has a hard time ignoring her attraction to the unsuitable George.

Producer Ismail Merchant considered A ROOM WITH A VIEW Merchant Ivory's first genuine blockbuster, and it enjoyed more popular success than any previous Merchant Ivory film. Screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala was awarded an Academy Award for her screenplay, and the film itself was nominated for Best Picture. Director James Ivory's tale also features British movie icons Judi Dench and Simon Callow. A ROOM WITH A VIEW was the first of three Forster novels (the other two were MAURICE and HOWARDS END) adapted by Merchant Ivory Productions.

Starring	Maggie Smith, Denholm Elliott, Helena Bonham-Carter, Judi Dench, Julian Sands, Daniel Day-Lewis, Simon Callow, Patrick Godfrey, Fabia Drake, Rupert Graves
Director	James Ivory
Studio	UNIVERSAL PICTURES UK
Run time	DVD: 1 hr 59 mins
Certificate
Genres	Drama
Language	DVD: English
Released	DVD: 29 Oct 2007 Production year: 1985
Format	DVD

• Critics' reviews (6) of A Room With A View

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  This is the first of the Merchant Ivory adaptations of EM Forster. While Howards End was the one that scooped the major international awards, this is, in many ways, a more vibrant and infinitely more influential picture, as it confirmed the marketability of the “heritage” film that was, until recently, this country's most profitable movie export. Everything about the production proclaims its class: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's script is witty and erudite, Tony Pierce-Roberts's images of Florence and the English countryside are breathtaking and the performances of Helena Bonham Carter, Julian Sands and, in particular, Daniel Day-Lewis and Maggie Smith, are of masterclass quality. There are longueurs, but the air of Edwardian charm is irresistible.

  • Radio Times
  • Posted 29 Jan 2006

• "...The characters round the central couple beautifully....Most memorable of all, unsurprisingly is Daniel Day Lewis....The performance is a gem..."

  • Sight and Sound
  • Posted 11 Mar 2005

• Most helpful member's review of A Room With A View

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• 13 out of 13 people found this review helpful

  

  Delightful

  Truly one of the most flawless works I've ever come across- the acting is superb from minor to major players, the screenplay a deft adaptation of a great book, the art direction and costumes worthy of the Oscars they won, the score sweeping and romantic, and the filming gorgeously visual. A Room with a View is one of the few movie adaptations of a book that succeeds not only in being a good rendition of the original text, but a great movie in and of itself. It was made for love, to be loved, and the fact that it is so generally successful is just icing on the cake. As a romance, it's astoundingly successful, and though a period piece, its central philosophy of joy and passion are completely timeless, though maybe too subtle for our somewhat cynical modern intelligentsia/art house crowd, and it's definitely too complex and honest for a typical date movie audience. If, however, you're looking for an intelligent, genuine, well-crafted film that will make you laugh, fall in love with the characters and their time period, and then keep you up at two in the morning... well, this one's worth checking out.

  • • A customer from Sussex
    • Posted 20 Sep 2003 16:14

• Most recent members' review of A Room With A View

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• 2 out of 3 people found this review helpful

  

  Excellent period film

  Excellent scenery. Very good acting by an extremely accomplished cast. Dead on accurate period piece, drags on a bit at times, but overall a great film.
  
  An exceptional chick flick.

  • • JPopoli from Surrey
    • Posted 23 May 2004 18:46

• News and features

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  Final Merchant Ivory flick is premiered

  • 20 Mar 2006

  The White Countess, the final complete film to come from the legendary partnership of Ismail Merchant and James Ivory has been premiered at London's Curzon Mayfair cinema. Staring Ralph Fiennes (The Constant Gardener, The English Patient, Schindler's List) and Natasha Richardson (Maid In Manhattan, The Parent Trap), the film is set in the 1930s and tells the story of the relationship between a blind American ex-diplomat (Fiennes) and Russian Countess Sofia (Richardson). Legendary producer... Read more

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