A Room with a View

Having played my VHS tape of this wonderful film until my VHS player broke, and having followed other customers' advice about the previous, poor DVD editions, I am so glad that I am now able to watch a flawless version of this classic - the picture and sound quality is as crystal clear as is possible for a film produced 22 years ago, making visible the precious details of this meticulous production: the lacey costumes and beautiful sets, the authentic interiors and coiffures, and even minute facial expressions that I had missed so far.
Among the extras are interviews with Simon Callow and Daniel Day-Lewis. The most interesting extra for me was a 1970 BBC tribute to E. M. Forster, featuring footage, photographs and quotations of himself and interviews with some of his friends, critics and contemporaries, including Frank Kermode, Christopher Ishwerwood and George Steiner.
Priceless!

This is my favourite adaptation of a Forster novel and it has thankfully been re-released as a proper widescreen version which fills the full screen of my TV. (The original DVD was a failed experiment in adaptation resulting in a shrunken picture in which very little was visible whatever TV shape you were using). Despite being rooted in the uptight Edwardian social rectitude of 1908, the novel still has plenty to say about the present day. At the time Edward Morgan Forster was firmly cowering at the back of the closet and channelling his hidden homosexuality into a critique of his time. People behave as they think they should behave. They repress their wonderful true nature in order to conform to stereotypes and thereby diminish their own existence. If you feel that we have all grown up since then, may I point you in the direction of the furore when Peter Mandelson was outed on Newsnight! Plus one of the extras on the disk is an interview with Frank Bough- now whatever happened to him (hmmm)?

The heroine, Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham Carter really could do a great turn in a corset) plays Beethoven with a passion. Meeting the unconventional Emersons (a father and son) on the Grand Tour, she is reprimanded by her very correct spinster cousin, Charlotte (Maggie Smith). And what is the real issue at hand? - the ladies have been shortchanged out of a "room with a view" of Florence's Duomo. The Emersons have a view, and "indelicately" offer to swap rooms. What follows is a comedy of manners, with a contrast between the passion of the strong sunlight of an Italian cornfield (with just the faint hint of drains in the air) and the ordered home life in Kent, where the roses must be tied up so they don't blow about in the wind and girls mustn't bathe in the woodland pool. Played by a faultless ensemble cast, Lucy steadfastly makes the wrong choices throughout the film, nearly marrying the wrong man (a toe curling performance by Daniel Day Lewis). Throughout we're willing her to fall for the passionate, questing soul of George Emerson (who wouldn't swoon into Julian Sands' arms?). She is only rescued by the amiable old Mr Emerson (ah there was a time when every film had Denholm Elliot in it) who thankfully is prepared to speak plainly. This is a film to reflect the British psyche and is one of the best of the Merchant-Ivory-Jhabvala collaborations.

The happiest of all E M's novels, the story of Lucy and George's cross class love affair is beautifully captured by Merchant Ivory in this film. A fantastic cast - with outstanding turns by the likes of Judy Dench (before we'd decided she was a British thespian 'Grand Dame'), Simon Callow, Daniel Day Lewis (Cecil in prissy perfection), Denholm Elliot (scene stealing beautifully)and Maggie Smith - is led by the inspired casting of ingenue Bonham Carter, as she was at the time, and Julian Sands as Lucy and George. Added to the wonderful cast is a beautiful score and oscar winning art direction to create that sumptuous view. The kiss in the poppy field is one of cinemas most beautiful and romantic moments and a fantastic example of how music and cinematography can be combined to create real artistic beauty.

Is this film really over 20 years old? Once banned for nudity (on UK television, I remember it showing in C4's groundbreaking 'banned' movie season), it's an example of how literary adaptations should and can be done. This is a personal favourite, however a warning - those who are not fans of Miz Bonham Carter, of Forsters novel or of Merchant Ivory would be better off steering clear, you won't enjoy this film.