A Room with a View (1985)

In a Florence pensione circa 1900 with English guests, George and his dad offer their rooms with views to Lucy and her chaperone. Lucy and George get acquainted but Lucy returns to England. George and Lucy meet again but now she's engaged.

Director:

James Ivory

Writers:

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

Stars:

Maggie Smith, Helena Bonham Carter, Denholm Elliott

Won 3 Oscars. Another 22 wins & 22 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:

male nudity | nude bathing | pubic hair | male pubic hair | piano | 

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Taglines:

already Smashing Box-Office Records in England and America

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Merchant Ivory Productions [United States]

Country:

UK

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

11 April 1986 (UK)

Also Known As:

A Room with a View

Filming Locations:

Emmetts Garden, Sevenoaks, Kent, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$42,970, 9 March 1986, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$20,966,644

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

Maggie Smith and Judi Dench would later share the screen together in four other films: Tea with Mussolini (1999) Ladies in Lavender (2004) The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015).

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Goofs

The hand that Charlotte Bartlett holds her purse in when she falls over the bicycle at the station.

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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

Spoofed in Stiff Upper Lips (1998)

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Soundtracks

The Story of Prince Agib
(uncredited)
Poem written by W.S. Gilbert
Recited by Rupert Graves

User Reviews

Vivid comedy of manners

"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.