A Room with a View (1985)

When Lucy Honeychurch and chaperone Charlotte Bartlett find themselves in Florence with rooms without views, fellow guests Mr Emerson and son George step in to remedy the situation. Meeting... See full summary »

Director:

James Ivory

Writers:

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

Stars:

Maggie Smith, Helena Bonham Carter, Denholm Elliott

Won 3 Oscars. Another 23 wins & 21 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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 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. Honeychurch
Rupert Graves	...	Freddy Honeychurch
Peter Cellier	...	Sir Harry Otway, a landlord

Storyline

When Lucy Honeychurch and chaperone Charlotte Bartlett find themselves in Florence with rooms without views, fellow guests Mr Emerson and son George step in to remedy the situation. Meeting the Emersons could change Lucy's life forever but, once back in England, how will her experiences in Tuscany affect her marriage plans?

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Plot Keywords:

florence italy | piano | chaperon | 1900s | travel | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

11 April 1986 (UK)

Also Known As:

Soba s pogledom

Filming Locations:

Bluebell Railway, East Sussex, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$20,966,644 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Goldcrest Films International, National Film Finance Corporation (NFFC), Curzon Film Distributors

Technical Specs

Runtime:

117 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During a film making discussion with Gus Van Sant during the Oregon Sesquicentennial Film Festival, James Ivory stated that he chose to make A Room with a View because he wanted to return to Italy.

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Goofs

In Mrs Vyse's home, she and Cecil Vyse discuss Lucy becoming part of the family. The mantle clock reads about 10:46. When Cecil and Lucy part on the landing, the clock strikes 10.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Charlotte Bartlett: This is not at all what we were led to expect.
Lucy Honeychurch: I thought we were going to see the Arno.
Charlotte Bartlett: The signora distinctly wrote, South rooms, with a view and close together, instead of which she has given us North rooms without a view and a long way apart.

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Connections

Featured in The 59th Annual Academy Awards (1987)

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Soundtracks

"Mademoiselle Modiste"
Composed by Victor Herbert
Courtesy Caedmon/Arabesque Records
Performed by The Eastman-Dryden Orchestra (as The Dryden Orchestra of the Eastman School of Music)
Conducted by Donald Hunsberger (uncredited)
(from the album "Souvenir") (uncredited)

User Reviews

That rarest of great novel adaptations-- a film that's better than the book

No disrespect to the achingly elegant prose of E.M. Forster, but the last chapter of his novel simply cannot compare to this film's last shot, of a pair of lovers in a pensione in Florence, finally with their view of the Arno. As for the rest of this brilliant adaptation, it is populated with actors so perfectly cast it's as if they'd been invented for the roles-- Julian Sands as the Edwardian bohemian George Emerson, Helena Bonham-Carter, radiant as Lucy Honeychurch, Denholm Elliott, once again stealing every scene he's in, and Daniel Day-Lewis as the priggish Cecil Vyse, in a performance so self-consciously stiff he looks as though he were taken off the cover of the New Yorker. It's romantic, funny, stylish and impassioned. I first saw this film when it was released, and even at a young age, I knew I'd fallen in love. Twenty years later, I'm still in love with it.