A Room with a View

Name: A Room with a View
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance
Released: April 1, 1986
Duration: 117 min
Rating: 83
Cast: Helena Bonham Carter, Maggie Smith

1986

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 21 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 46 Ratings

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7.3

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7.3	Your Score
7.3	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 46 Ratings

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A Room With A View

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Movie Details & Credits

Cinecom Pictures | Release Date: April 1, 1986 | R

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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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Empire Ian Nathan

Stunning cast and scenery cannot fill the hole where the heart of this film should be. A satire with an unnaturally soft centre. Read full review

100

Gene Siskel

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

100

Sheila Benson

A virtually irresistible film. [21 March 1986, p.1]

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

Staff (Not Credited)

Distinguished by superb ensemble acting, intelligent writing and stunning design.

Bill Cosford

Ivory's version of A Room With a View is impeccably turned out and wonderfully funny once the rhythms are established, which does not take long. The performances are splendid, from Helena Bonham Carter's moon-faced Lucy to the Cecil of Daniel Day Lewis (who can also be seen in a role so different -- the loutish punk of My Beautiful Laundrette -- that it hardly seems possible he is the same actor). As expected, Maggie Smith (as Charlotte) and Denholm Elliott (George's free-thinking father), nearly steal the film. [4 Apr 1986, p.D1]

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

Flipje

May 26, 2021

I have never stopped loving this film. I can't believe I first watched it as a teen over twenty years ago. Then, on a whim, my mother had brought it home from the rental store. She popped this bad boy in the VCR and after a few minutes, I somehow became engrossed, enamored with the youngI have never stopped loving this film. I can't believe I first watched it as a teen over twenty years ago. Then, on a whim, my mother had brought it home from the rental store. She popped this bad boy in the VCR and after a few minutes, I somehow became engrossed, enamored with the young Helena Bonham-Carter - who plays Lucy - and her wanderings in Tuscany. At her side, the overprotective and fiendishly finicky chaperone, Charlotte (the great Maggie Smith) keeps watch only for the beauty-inspired George (Julian Sands) to plant a nice, juice kiss on Miss Lucy's lips in a field of hillside violets. The scene, scored to the music of Puccini, never fails to give me goosebumps and whenever the sun comes out suddenly from behind a bank of dismal clouds, I cannot help recall this movie and its sensuous cinematography. Yet it's not all romance. There is plenty humour here. George's father, Mr. Emerson (Delholm Eliot of Indiana Jones fame) is a prototype romantic with a case of social awkwardness who makes muddles out of moments while the young Freddy, Lucy's brother back in England likes a good tease and a 'bathe' in the woods. For all fans of this film, the Sacred Lake swim featuring Freddy, George and Mr. Beebe (a young Simon Callow)is the laugh-out-loud highlight. The cast must have had a hoot filming it. Meanwhile, I am always amazed at how Daniel Day-Lewis disappears into roles. When I first watched the film in my teens, I knew him from My Left Foot and Last of the Mohicans. To see him as Cecil, the pompous, pencil-thin twit, you have to shake your head. Yet he pulls it off with such conviction, becoming the awkward cherry on top of this much-cherished masterpiece. The entire film feels like a pleasant and briefly troubling dream. The good parts are wonderful, the sad parts come out satisfying, and the film comes full circle. Love wins. Is that a spoiler? This is truly my favourite of all Merchant and Ivory films. All these years, it still feels like a little miracle to me.… Expand

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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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