A thoroughly entertaining screen adaptation of novelist E.M. Forster’s comedy of manners about the Edwardian English upper class at home and abroad, distinguished by superb ensemble acting, intelligent writing and stunning design.
Set in 1907, A Room with a View moves between a pensione in Florence, Italy where a well-to-do young English lady, Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham Carter) is traveling on the type of compulsory horizon-broadening tour that was the prerogative of her class, chaperoned by her fussy, punctilious aunt Charlotte (Maggie Smith), and the insular Surrey countryside where she lives with her mother (Rosemary Leach).
James Ivory’s direction makes what might have been a talky period piece in lesser hands a consistently engaging study of the mores and morality of a bygone time.
1986: Best Adapted Screenplay, Art Direction, Costume Design (Jenny Beavan, John Bright).
Nominations: Best Picture, Director, Supp. Actor (Denholm Elliott), Supp. Actress (Maggie Smith), Cinematography
