A Room with a View (1985)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

James Ivory

Writers:

E.M. Forster (novel)
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (screenplay)

Release Date:

11 April 1986 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Plot:

When Lucy Honeychurch and chaperone Charlotte Bartlett find themselves in Florence with rooms without views...

Plot Keywords:

1900s | Florence Italy | Gardening | Mother Daughter Relationship | Author

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 21 wins & 19 nominations

Cast

Maggie Smith	...	Charlotte Bartlett, a chaperon
Helena Bonham Carter	...	Lucy Honeychurch, Miss Bartlett's cousin and charge (as Helena Bonham-Carter)
Denholm Elliott	...	Mr. Emerson, an English tourist
Julian Sands	...	George Emerson
Simon Callow	...	The Reverend Mr. Arthur Beebe
Patrick Godfrey	...	The Reverend Mr. Eager, Chaplain of the Anglican Church in Florence
Judi Dench	...	Eleanor Lavish, a novelist
Fabia Drake	...	Miss Catharine Alan
Joan Henley	...	Miss Teresa Alan
Amanda Walker	...	The Cockney Signora
Daniel Day-Lewis	...	Cecil Vyse (as Daniel Day Lewis)
Maria Britneva	...	Mrs. Vyse, Cecil's mother
Rosemary Leach	...	Mrs. Marian Honeychurch
Rupert Graves	...	Freddy Honeychurch
Peter Cellier	...	Sir Harry Otway, a landlord

Also Known As:

Camera con vista (Italy) [it]
Chambre avec vue (France) [fr]
Domatio me thea (Greece) [el]
Ett rum med utsikt (Sweden) [sv]
Hotel i Florens (Finland: Swedish title) [sv]
Hotelli Firenzessä (Finland) [fi]
Manzarali oda (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Pokój z widokiem (Poland) [pl]
Quarto com Vista Sobre a Cidade (Portugal) [pt]
Szoba kilátással (Hungary) [hu]
Uma Janela Para o Amor (Brazil) [pt]
Un amor en Florencia (Argentina) [es]
Una habitación con vistas (Spain) [es]
Værelse med udsigt (Denmark) [da]
Zimmer mit Aussicht (West Germany) [de]

Runtime:

UK:117 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Portugal:M/12 | Iceland:12 | Spain:T | Netherlands:6 | Canada:G (Quebec) | USA:R | Norway:16 | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Chile:14 | Finland:S | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | West Germany:12 (f)

Filming Locations:

Bluebell Railway, East Sussex, England, UK

Company:

Goldcrest Films International

Trivia:

During the process leading up to placing trade ads for the Oscar nominations, Daniel Day-Lewis made it known he was not interested in campaigning for an Oscar nomination. As a result the production company concentrated on promoting Denholm Elliott in the supporting actor category. Elliott was enthusiastic in participating in the process and eventually won an Oscar nomination.

Goofs:

Continuity: Freddy Honeychurch's hairstyle as he plays the piano.

Quotes:

Mr. Emerson: Women like looking at a view. Men don't.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Married with Children: A Shoe Room with a View (#10.2)" (1995)

Soundtrack:

Chi il bel sogno di Doretta

It's aging well

I have enjoyed 'A Room with a View' since it arrived on the scene in 1985. I have watched it many times and the video is wearing out and I fully intend to get the DVD of it soon. I saw it again the other night and am still charmed by it, in fact, I enjoyed it more than ever. Yes, it's a costume drama under glass, but it's a very well-done example of that popular genre. Films like this are greatly appealing to people like me who yearn for a gentler society and manners, though without the uptight staidness as exemplified by Aunt Charlotte (Maggie Smith) and Cecil Vyse (Daniel Day-Lewis). So this movie falls under the category of "comfort" film for me, and it is one of the very best.

Often Merchant/Ivory productions ring false ('Remains of the Day', for example), when they attempt to make a political statement; in that case regarding the under-current in Britain that led to the surprisingly popular British Union of Fascists created by Sir Oswald Mosley prior to WW2. But when James Ivory and his team stick to romance and the pretty manners of Edwardians, they are hard to beat.

Of the performers, Julian Sands seems the most "improved" in my opinion from earlier viewings. He is wonderful as the Byronic lover and has a ton of chemistry with Helena Bonham-Carter's lovely, spicey Lucy Honeychurch. Daniel Day-Lewis's Cecil Vyse seems a bit more contrived as time passes but is in the end a touching portrayal of a type of man that I despise.

There isn't weak link in the entire cast. The Puccini arias and Beethoven piano sonatas are beautiful and enhance the story. The photography is gorgeous and the other technical aspects are flawless.

This is the pinnacle of Merchant/Ivory films, I cannot imagine them producing anything better in the future, but who knows. They do seem to be in a cultural rut now, however.

The fringe film crowd will probably descry this sort of populist cinema, but I think that is narrow-minded snobbery, as boorish as Cecil Vyse and his insufferable intolerance to "the plebians."