A Room with a View Movie Review

Here's the deal: Helena Bonham Carter is in love with Julian Sands, but she settles for Daniel Day-Lewis (who isn't cute like he was in My Beautiful Laundrette, but rather resembles a gopher). What on Earth is that unhappy lovesick girl going to do? This is the central story of E.M. Forster's A Room with a View, along with the usual meticulous examination of Edwardian England that is de rigeur for all three of the Merchant-Ivory films based on the works of E.M. Forster. (The others are Maurice and Howard's End.) Bonham Carter and Sands are the quintessential romantic couple, circa 1908, and Venice has never been so photogenic. An Oscar winner for its screenplay, art direction, and costumes, A Room with a View also received nominations for Best Picture, for director James Ivory, and for Denholm Elliott and Maggie Smith (Smith is a hoot as always as Carter's aunt). Two other Forster adaptations are David Lean's A Passage to India and Charles Sturridge's Where Angels Fear to Tread.

1986 117m/C GB Helena Bonham Carter, Julian Sands, Denholm Elliott, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Simon Callow, Daniel Day-Lewis, Rupert Graves, Rosemary Leach; D: James Ivory; W: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala; C: Tony Pierce-Roberts. Academy Awards ‘86: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Art Direction/ Set Decoration, Best Costume Design; British Academy Awards ‘86: Best Actress (Smith), Best Film, Best Supporting Actress (Dench); Golden Globe Awards ‘87: Best Supporting Actress (Smith); Independent Spirit Awards ‘87: Best Foreign Film; National Board of Review Awards ‘86: Best Supporting Actor (Day-Lewis); New York Film Critics Awards ‘86: Best Cinematography, Best Supporting Actor (Day-Lewis); Writers Guild of America ‘86: Best Adapted Screenplay; Nominations: Academy Awards ‘86: Best Cinematography, Best Director (Ivory), Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Elliott), Best Supporting Actress (Smith). VHS, LV, Closed Caption