A Room with a View

Name: A Room with a View
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance
Released: April 1, 1986
Duration: 117 min
Rating: 80
Cast: Helena Bonham Carter, Maggie Smith

1986

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Critics

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 34 Ratings

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8.2

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8.2	User Score Universal acclaim based on 34 Ratings

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A ROOM WITH A VIEW

Movie Details & Credits

Cinecom Pictures | Release Date: April 1, 1986

Starring: Helena Bonham Carter, Maggie Smith

Summary: Based on E.M. Forster's novel, Lucy, a young English woman (Bonham Carter), and her aunt (Smith) travel to Florence in the early 1900's. When Lucy encounters a British gentleman in Italy and finds herself falling in love, she must choose between him and her fiancé back in England.

Director: James Ivory

Genre(s): Drama, Comedy, Romance

Rating: R

Runtime: 117 min

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Awards & Rankings

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Entertainment Weekly - Lawrence O'Toole

A movie with exquisite period detail. [8 Apr 1994]

100

Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert

A Room with a View enjoys its storytelling so much that I enjoyed the very process of it. The story moved slowly, it seemed, for the same reason you try to make ice cream last: because it's so good. Read full review

100

Chicago Tribune - Gene Siskel

More than a great love story. It's both a lighthearted and deeply impassioned inspirational lesson about life. [4 April 1986]

The New York Times - Vincent Canby

As Lucy Honeychurch, Miss Bonham Carter gives a remarkably complex performance of a young woman who is simultaneously reasonable and romantic, generous and selfish, and timid right up to the point where she takes a heedless plunge into the unknown. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine - Staff (Not Credited)

It's hard to believe A Room With a View cost so little; the costumes and sets are dazzling and the acting is superb--from two-time Oscar-winner Smith to the smallest role, there's not a false note. Read full review

Wall Street Journal - Julie Salamon

It's all rather amusing, but after awhile you tire of all the perfect little nuances about characters who seem like prototypes for a certain type of Victorian novel. [6 Mar 1986, p.23(E)]

Chicago Reader - Dave Kehr

Though it's meant as a droll comedy of manners, what emerges is mincing, crabbed, and petty. Read full review

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User Reviews

VANTHEMAN333

Nov 28, 2010

Quite simply, The best film I have ever seen...Required viewing for any true hopeless romantic. "Beauty"!!!!!!! ?

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amheretojudge

Jun 5, 2019

Ivory checks another book from his library, he loved reading it and we watching it.

A Room With A View Ivory is setting the mood with nature in the background. One of the most acclaimed adaptation artist of this show business- along with, of course, Aaron Sorkin. Although both of them, hasIvory checks another book from his library, he loved reading it and we watching it.

A Room With A View

Ivory is setting the mood with nature in the background. One of the most acclaimed adaptation artist of this show business- along with, of course, Aaron Sorkin. Although both of them, has quite an opposite view on how to narrate. Sorkin dashes across the finale leaving the audience whiplashed, while Ivory believes in savouring the dish rather than gulping it down- the director, James Ivory, had had a golden era in his days where he worked aplenty with a long time production partner Ismail Merchant. Almost as if both were on a mission to adapt some of the best literary work and project it on screen with bright colors and juicy texture.

But what comes out surprising to me, is how quirky this film is. Usually, the humor that they follow is either flirty or situational. But in here, with Maggie Smith as a reliable capital, the laugh come in easy, ranging from chuckles to a broad smile plastered in the last act of the film where her nature steers the film into a vital bridge. The intertitle was a smart move by Ivory. The storyline jumps a lot during the film, and highlighting the event somehow helps link all the material in one category.

Helena Bonham Carter, in the lead, is a sight to behold, playing tennis and feeling like that very ball, her precarious behavior on both sides of the court, gives away the result beautifully and without any referee. Aforementioned, supporting her or should I say demotivating her, is Smith in her firm voice that loses the grasp of it, as the film ages. Personally, the intervention of Carter by Smith in her hotel room defines the film for me, Smith negates everything Carter leans towards, barrs her in unconvincing views of hers and even manages to close the window or block A Room With A View.… Expand

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