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A fresh look at the classic novel by E.M. Forster. This new interpretation of the novel, by award winning writer Andrew Davies (Bleak House, Pride & Prejudice) is framed poignantly by Lucy's nostalgic return to Italy after the First World War. Starring a line up of fresh British talent including, Timothy and Rafe Spall as Mr Emerson and his son George, Elaine Cassidy as Lucy Honeychurch, and Laurence Fox as Lucy's arrogant suitor Cecil.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
for myself and shall read the story as it was written. I have never read EM Forster, although I have had every intention of doing so. I have never seen the Merchant/Ivory production of Forster's work either. And so I decided to watch the Andrew Davies version to see if I had been missing anything. Not knowing the story, the opening sequences were quite confusing, and the production as a whole took a long time to get going, so much so that part way through I almost gave up. But perserverance won through, and I found myself enjoying the story at the end, not knowing at that stage that the bedroom and final scenes are the additions of the producer. One can understand the pathos and sense of loneliness when Lucy returned to the place where she and the young Mr Emerson had taken their first kiss, but there was the underlying assumption that perhaps Lucy, now a widow, was going to take up with the Italian who had driven their carriage to the fields 10 years previously! It all seemed out of place somehow, and didn't ring true. I found the acting of the person who played Lucy irritating in the extreme, and wished Mr Vyse had been advised to shed his grimy looking over-jacket much earlier in the piece. I am looking forward to reading the story as it was writ!
42 of 48 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
A Room with a View is E.M. Forster's most optimistic and romantic novel. Davies' adaption, sadly, manages to ignore both these elements. It is neither optimistic nor romantic. The first is a failure in structure, the second a failure in characterisation.
Davies' script is structured around Lucy's return to Florence, years after her first visit when she met the love of her life, George Emmerson. This story, the romantic backbone of the book, is told in flashback. The ending is out of place and depressing. Instead of the optimism Forster initially intended, we are left feeling melancholy and empty.
Also I failed to empathise fully with any of the characters. Generally it was well acted, but I felt that the cast were not giving one hundred percent and not emotionally engaging with the characters as envisaged by Forster. Elaine Cassidy was good as Lucy, but her portrayal was not as good or as convincing as Helena Bonham-Carter's. Timothy Spall was particularly disappointing, as was Sophie Thompson, two character actors who I normally admire very much. And the contrasts between the liberated George and the repressed Cecil were simply not well drawn - in many ways they were too alike.
One scene that was particularly badly done was the bathing scene at the magic lake. In the original film, this scene is charged with homoeroticism and does not shy away from male nudity. In contrast, there is a prudishness to the Davies' version, surprising for a writer who usually extracts every ounce of sexuality from a story.
All and all, a disappointment. Not bad, just not as good as it could have been, and poor in comparison to the peerless 1985 original.
Davies' script is structured around Lucy's return to Florence, years after her first visit when she met the love of her life, George Emmerson. This story, the romantic backbone of the book, is told in flashback. The ending is out of place and depressing. Instead of the optimism Forster initially intended, we are left feeling melancholy and empty.
Also I failed to empathise fully with any of the characters. Generally it was well acted, but I felt that the cast were not giving one hundred percent and not emotionally engaging with the characters as envisaged by Forster. Elaine Cassidy was good as Lucy, but her portrayal was not as good or as convincing as Helena Bonham-Carter's. Timothy Spall was particularly disappointing, as was Sophie Thompson, two character actors who I normally admire very much. And the contrasts between the liberated George and the repressed Cecil were simply not well drawn - in many ways they were too alike.
One scene that was particularly badly done was the bathing scene at the magic lake. In the original film, this scene is charged with homoeroticism and does not shy away from male nudity. In contrast, there is a prudishness to the Davies' version, surprising for a writer who usually extracts every ounce of sexuality from a story.
All and all, a disappointment. Not bad, just not as good as it could have been, and poor in comparison to the peerless 1985 original.
18 of 21 people found the following review helpful
By Mr. Ian A. Macfarlane
TOP 100 REVIEWER
Format:DVD
I enjoyed a good deal of this adaptation, certainly the first half, but it is a broad and liberty-taking version of Forster's novel. I greatly admire Andrew Davies's sometimes bold approach to 'the classics', but is this case he takes, for me, a step too far. Generally the acting is good ; generally it is visually very pleasing. But as the DVD goes on, it becomes harder and harder to take seriously. The earlier stages, in Florence, do not really capture the breathless 'otherness' of the place in which Lucy can be swept away by her feelings, though the portrayal of the English travellers abroad, cooped up eccentrically in a little pension, is amusing. It's difficult to say why, but the central concern of the novel, the conflict between natural emotion and stiff English 'correctness' in a class context, never really convinces. The ending goes beyond the novel and in one feel-good respect (involving an Italian coach-driver) seems far too good to be true. So, a pleasant film but not a great one.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful and Romantic, Wonderful Music
This is the latest version of the film and I have only just discovered it. The music was beautiful and caused me to re run the scenes several times. Read more
Published 13 months ago by K. SIMPSON
4.0 out of 5 stars
Watch it as a stand alone piece
It doesn't seem fair to compare this with the MI production, which is so completely wonderful in every way. Read more
Published on 20 May 2011 by Malinky
4.0 out of 5 stars
Room with a view
Interesting film version of the well known novel. Definitely not at the same level of the previous Ivory's version.
Published on 11 Oct 2010 by Boso Alfredo
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Room With A View
Arrived on time and in perfect condition.
Have seen this on TV,great,and I wanted a permanent record of this film
Have seen this on TV,great,and I wanted a permanent record of this film
Published on 15 April 2009 by Mr. Don Walker
3.0 out of 5 stars
Unnecessary - if one word must suffice
When one has a Merchant-Ivory production to compare oneself to, one has to be extra careful and quite apparently the authors of the movie failed to remember about this warning. Read more
Published on 4 April 2009 by Ford Ka
5.0 out of 5 stars
E.M.Foster made interesting.
Excellent! A slick and easy to follow version of possibly his most enjoyable work.The main positives over the Helen B/C version is that it cuts out most of the tedium- despite the... Read more
Published on 20 Nov 2008 by Robert J. Price
2.0 out of 5 stars
Good idea, bad execution (and bad ending!)
I really liked the idea of this, to do something non-Merchant Ivory with a Forster novel adaptation. Read more
Published on 30 Jun 2008 by N. Vincendeau
2.0 out of 5 stars
Very disappointing
I'm afraid I'm in total agreement with most of the reviews that have already been made. I am a fan of A Room With a View. Read more
Published on 9 Jun 2008 by AvidBookReader
5.0 out of 5 stars
Did the dismissives see the same production I did? Surely not!
My God, what are they on about, the people above this review who say this adaptation of `A Room with a View' does not compare with this, that and the other? What utter nonsense. Read more
Published on 25 May 2008 by Mr. P. Noakes
1.0 out of 5 stars
What a waste of time and money
Why on earth did anyone think it made sense to create a new version of this story, when the Merchant Ivory version is so perfect and so definitive? Read more
Published on 27 April 2008 by E. J. Naylor
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