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88 reviews in total

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50 out of 55 people found the following review useful:
A perfect movie!, 26 May 2004

Author: René (rfak) from Vienna, Austria

Of all his in his lifetime published books (`Maurice' wasn't published before his death in 1970) E.M. Forster considered `Room with a view' as the least successful. Why that is I don´t know, because I think it's a charming book, full of warmth and humour and this film does the unthinkable: It captures the spirit of the book! It's one of the best screen adaptions that have ever been made. A perfect movie!

Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham-Carter) and her spinster cousin Charlotte (Maggie Smith) travel to Florence to spend their holidays there. They find themselves with rooms with no view and an elder gentleman, called Mr. Emerson (Denholm Eliot) and his son George (Julian Sands), who have such rooms, switch rooms with the two women. George falls in love with Lucy and in a passionate and beautiful scene kisses her in a field full of flowers. But Charlotte caught them and she and Lucy return instantly back to England. There her snobbish fiancé Cecil Vyse (Daniel Day-Lewis) waits for her. Though they don't real fit together she wants to go on with the marriage. But then George and his father by coincidence rent a house in the village where Lucy lives. She feels attracted to George, but is not sure if she doesn't want to go the safe way. What will she do?

This small and intelligent romantic comedy was the surprise hit of 1985, making Merchant-Ivory and some of it's performers big names. It's light as feather, has a wonderful warm feeling about it and it never becomes cheap entertainment. The costumes, the sets, the cinematography, everything was simply perfect! There truly is no other word for it.

Helena Bonham-Carter became a star with her characterisation of Lucy. She's wonderful, touching and perfectly supported by all the other actors. Especially memorable are Judi Dench as the author of romantic fiction, Eleanor Lavish (she's hilarious), Daniel Day-Lewis, who's hardly recognisable as Cecil and Maggie Smith (I simply adore her in this) as the chaperon, who just wants to help.

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52 out of 60 people found the following review useful:
It's aging well, 20 December 2004
Author: pekinman from Illinois

I have enjoyed 'A Room with a View' since it arrived on the scene in 1985. I have watched it many times and the video is wearing out and I fully intend to get the DVD of it soon. I saw it again the other night and am still charmed by it, in fact, I enjoyed it more than ever. Yes, it's a costume drama under glass, but it's a very well-done example of that popular genre. Films like this are greatly appealing to people like me who yearn for a gentler society and manners, though without the uptight staidness as exemplified by Aunt Charlotte (Maggie Smith) and Cecil Vyse (Daniel Day-Lewis). So this movie falls under the category of "comfort" film for me, and it is one of the very best.

Often Merchant/Ivory productions ring false ('Remains of the Day', for example), when they attempt to make a political statement; in that case regarding the under-current in Britain that led to the surprisingly popular British Union of Fascists created by Sir Oswald Mosley prior to WW2. But when James Ivory and his team stick to romance and the pretty manners of Edwardians, they are hard to beat.

Of the performers, Julian Sands seems the most "improved" in my opinion from earlier viewings. He is wonderful as the Byronic lover and has a ton of chemistry with Helena Bonham-Carter's lovely, spicey Lucy Honeychurch. Daniel Day-Lewis's Cecil Vyse seems a bit more contrived as time passes but is in the end a touching portrayal of a type of man that I despise.

There isn't weak link in the entire cast. The Puccini arias and Beethoven piano sonatas are beautiful and enhance the story. The photography is gorgeous and the other technical aspects are flawless.

This is the pinnacle of Merchant/Ivory films, I cannot imagine them producing anything better in the future, but who knows. They do seem to be in a cultural rut now, however.

The fringe film crowd will probably descry this sort of populist cinema, but I think that is narrow-minded snobbery, as boorish as Cecil Vyse and his insufferable intolerance to "the plebians."

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48 out of 59 people found the following review useful:
That rarest of great novel adaptations-- a film that's better than the book, 20 September 2002

Author: Jason Berkley (jdberkley@hotmail.com) from Chicago, Illinois

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.

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23 out of 24 people found the following review useful:
Edwardian love, 15 August 2004
Author: (victor7754@hotmail.com)

A Room with a View possesses a fabulous cast, beautiful cinematography, an awesome adapted script, and a tale of oppressed desire during the paradigm shift from the repressive Victorian age to the more liberal Edwardian time. The film moves at a deliberate pace of country strolls and carriage rides filling the viewer with literary awakenings and music compositions. Poppies, barley, and Florence architecture decorate the screen.

The film is witty if anything with carefree individuals roaming about with leisure on their minds. Pure love and desire aches throughout and Italy is the place to bring the lovers together.

It is a handsome picture. Detailed period pieces and costumes. The cast is phenomenal! Helena Bohnam Carter portrays the peevish Lucy Honeychurch on her way to becoming her prudish Cousin and chaperone, Charlotte Bartlett (The Great Maggie Smith.) However The spirit of Italy will prevent such an occurrence and fill Miss Honeychurch with pure desire for George, the man who was brought up from the evils and hate of the world.

The adaptation is superb. Fun. It is a film to live in and swim in the sacred lake. One of the best films of the 80's. Terrific!

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23 out of 27 people found the following review useful:
romantic and funny, 1 April 2004

Author: abbynyc from New York

This movie made me go to Florence, Italy. And once I got there, they actually showed it every other night at the pensione I stayed in. Though set in Victorian times, it is reminiscent of a Jane Austen novel- romantic and humorous, but more passionate. Characters are lovingly made fun of. The acting is wonderful. People you've seen elsewhere, but in unusual roles. Helena Bonham Carter is the confused heroine, Maggie Smith plays her passive-aggressive aunt, you won't believe it's Daniel Day-Lewis playing the most irritating pompous man, Judi Dench is a gossipy romance novelist, Julian Sands is adorably weird, and the supporting characters are also wonderful. It's one of favorites.

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21 out of 24 people found the following review useful:
My favourite film ever., 26 January 2001

Author: larajenny from Vancouver, Canada

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

A lot of people expect this adaption of EM Forster's A Room with a View to be a stuffy costume drama. They see actors in period dress and are not interested. What those people are missing out on is a very funny, contemporary, subtle, well-acted and insightful film. This is as good an adaption from literature to film as I've ever seen. The tale of a group of English tourists to Italy and how their experiences change them is a stunning satire of Victorian social norms without losing sight of the charm of the individual characters. Fantastic.

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23 out of 28 people found the following review useful:
an academy award winner that is really a true winner, 4 February 2004
Author: iwishiwereabondgirl from australia, australia

Merchant-Ivory always do a good job. Their films are not only stunning visually, but they evoke an emotional response. A Room with a View is superficially a love story. and I hate to admit it kind of stays there. But they stick to the books. Having read the respective, Howard's End, and a Passage to India, I can truly say they adhere to what has been written. But the books are completely about what you read between the lines. E.M Forester was pretty disgusted by his culture. Yet it was his....and he loved it.......because it provided itself with misfits...i.e Lucy and her beau. He was an echo of Oscar Wilde. I think if you look very hard into this movie you will see that. Denholm Elliot is the epitome of an englishman who isn't an englishman. and he is the complete opposite of Mrs. Vyse....his opposing character. Even the vicar isn't what he supposed to be. Nude Bathing (Oh my Goodness) and in praise of passion he is a free spirit. I think anyone who can say bad about his movie has issues. Yes, its main-stream international. But its beautiful.

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23 out of 31 people found the following review useful:
Remains a Favorite, 9 July 2003
Author: moviefan2003va from Washington, DC

This movie remains one of my favorites of all time. The acting is extremely pro. A case in point, I didn't realize for 5 years after first seeing the movie that Daniel Day Lewis was "Cecil Vyse". That's acting! "Lucy Honeychurch" (well played by Helena Bonham-Carter) embodies the struggle that most people must face at the beginning of their adult lives. Whether to listen to their own voice or the voice of others. Choosing one or the other can severely change the course of one's life. "George Emerson" as perfectly captured by Julian Sands, is the perfect man that most hope to find in their lifetime and we all push for "Lucy" to realize this. The supporting performances by the veteran cast that include Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Denholm Elliot, Simon Callow (the wonderful Reverend Beebe) equally are brilliant. Well done!

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15 out of 18 people found the following review useful:
Vivid comedy of manners, 2 June 2007

Author: marissas75 from United States

"A Room with a View" is one of the best-known Merchant-Ivory films, the one that made their reputation for tastefully adapting Edwardian novels. Working from E. M. Forster's charming story, Merchant and Ivory add gorgeous Tuscan cinematography, lush opera music, and a cast of talented British actors. Even a skinny-dipping scene is done with enough class that the movie got away with a PG rating (though that probably wouldn't happen nowadays!). In short, Merchant-Ivory makes it look easy—and this ease has led to charges of their films being dull and middlebrow, as well as to many imitators.

But this stereotype of "a Merchant-Ivory film" fails to mention just how vivid and hilarious "A Room with a View" actually is. With scene-stealing actors like Maggie Smith as a prim, passive-aggressive chaperone and Daniel Day-Lewis as a self-centered young man whose every gesture tells of his fastidious rigidity, a rich vein of humor runs through the film. The movie also delights in putting its heroine Lucy (a baby-faced Helena Bonham Carter) in situations that prove awkward, funny, and ultimately invigorating for a well-bred young lady of 1905. Lucy finds herself in a love triangle, with society telling her to choose Cecil (Day- Lewis) but a deeper force pulling her toward the unconventional, moody George Emerson (Julian Sands).

A comedy of manners, "A Room with a View" is sometimes guilty of seeing its characters as types, rather than people. Even Lucy is not much more than "the young girl transfigured by Italy" that Miss Lavish (Judi Dench), a writer of cheap novels, labels her as. Still, it's easy to get caught up in the romance of this delightful movie. After seeing it, you'll want to go out and defend Truth and Love from all those who would deny them. Or at least to start saving up for a trip to Italy.

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16 out of 21 people found the following review useful:
Should have been Best Picture, 25 August 1999
Author: Boyo-2

This movie is completely beautiful and always fascinating to watch. Each actor does great work, with Maggie Smith (as usual) being the most memorable. Her nomination was deserved, but where was one for Daniel Day-Lewis? I thought he was more memorable than Denholm Elliot, who was nominated. This movie is one to own and take out to enjoy when the mood strikes.

Best line - "Because she IS Charlotte Bartlett"!

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