Howards End [1992] [DVD]

Howards End is E M Forster's beautifully subtle story of the criss-crossing paths of the privileged and those they disdain--and of a remarkable pair of women who can see beyond class distinctions. Dramatic and tragic but also surprisingly funny, this James Ivory film focuses on a pair of unmarried sisters (Emma Thompson, who won an Oscar, and Helena Bonham Carter) who befriend a poor young clerk (Sam West) and, without meaning to, ruin his life. Meanwhile, Thompson also makes the acquaintance of a dying neighbour (Vanessa Redgrave), who leaves her a family home in her will--which her husband (Anthony Hopkins) destroys. But, ironically, he meets and falls in love with Thompson, even as their paths once more intersect with the increasingly miserable young clerk. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's beautifully economical script also won an Oscar.--Marshall Fine

Anamorphic Wide Screen
DVD 9
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital English
Dolby Digital
30th Anniversary Merchant Ivory Promotion
Howards End Featurette
Interviews With The Cast
Behind The Scenes Featurette
Original Theatrical Trailer
Interactive Menus
Scene Selection

The dying Ruth Wilcox (Vanessa Redgrave) wishes to leave the deeds to her country home, Howards End, to Margaret Schlegel (Emma Thompson), a modest woman of little means who will soon be forced out of her own home in London. But Ruth's very conservative husband Henry (Anthony Hopkins), an upper middle-class businessman, destroys the will and keeps his late wife's desire secret, even after he and Margaret become romantically involved. Meanwhile, Margaret's sister Helen (Helena Bonham Carter) is disgusted by Henry's snobbish ways and is herself embroiled in a relationship with struggling clerk Leonard Bast (Sam West).

Encounter three social classes of the England of the beginning of the century: the victorian capitalists (the Wilcoxes) considering themselves as aristocrats, whose only god is money ; the enlightened bourgeois (the Schlegels), humanistic and philanthropist ; and the workers (the Basts), fighting to survive. The Schlegel sisters' humanism will be torn apart as they try both to softly knock down the Wilcox's prejudices and to help the Basts.