Woodmere Art Museum’s Tuesday Nights at the Movies will screen the lyrical coming-of-age movie, “A Room with a View,” on April 29. Set in 1907 between sun-drenched Tuscany and buttoned-up Edwardian England, the film was adapted from an E.M. Forster novel and turned the Merchant-Ivory director/writer team into household names.
“A Room with a View” features Helena Bonham Carter in her breakout role as Lucy Honeychurch, a proper and pragmatic young Englishwoman, whose carefully ordered life takes an unexpected turn during a trip abroad. Accompanied by her uptight older cousin and self-appointed chaperone, Charlotte Bartlett (Dame Maggie Smith), Lucy falls in with an eccentric group of fellow Brits staying at the same Florentine pensione: the affable Reverend Mr. Beebe (Simon Callow), flamboyant romance novelist Eleanor Lavish (Dame Judi Dench), unconventional Mr. Emerson (Denholm Elliott), and most significantly, his enigmatic, soulful son George (Julian Sands).
What begins as a typical Grand Tour — complete with clutched guidebooks, cultural detachment, and mild condescension toward the “locals” — soon becomes something far more personal for Lucy. After witnessing a violent street incident, Lucy’s carefully constructed worldview begins to crack. As the trip continues, Lucy and George’s connection deepens, culminating in what’s been hailed as one of cinema’s most romantic kisses. Their passionate unchaperoned moment in a sun-dappled poppy field is interrupted by the horrified Charlotte who promptly decides it's time to go home.
After her return to England, Lucy tries to suppress the emotional upheaval of Italy, and becomes engaged to Cecil Vyse (Daniel Day-Lewis). Lucy is soon forced to face what she’s been running from — and consider what it really means to live life on her own terms.
E.M. Forster began writing the novel during a 1901 trip to Italy when he was just 22. However, it was a long time from page to screen. Forster — and later his executors — declined all offers to turn the book into a film. It wasn't until the 1980s that a new executor, who happened to be a film lover, changed course and invited producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory to discuss adapting one of Forster’s novels. The expectation was that they’d be interested in “A Passage to India,” widely seen as his most important work. But to everyone’s surprise, they had their sights set on this charming early novel.
The film’s release marked a turning point for Merchant Ivory Productions, which made movies since the early 1960s. “A Room with a View” catapulted the filmmakers out of the art house and made them such major players that the term "Merchant-Ivory film" is shorthand for any lush period drama. Merchant Ivory Productions went on to make 26 more films, including “Howards End” and “The Remains of the Day.”
“A Room with a View” was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (Ivory), Best Supporting Actor (Elliott), and Best Supporting Actress (Smith). It won for best Adapted Screenplay (Ruth Prawer Jhabvala), Best Art Direction, and Best Costume Design. It also took home the BAFTA for Best Film. Perhaps the most compelling mark of its enduring appeal is that 40 years after its release, it holds a perfect “100% Fresh” rating on film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
Some movies, when you look back, feel like they capture not just a moment in time, but a chapter of your own life. “A Room with a View” is that kind of film for me. I spent a semester studying in Italy a few months before its U.S. release and understood how stepping into a new country can spark self discovery, challenge assumptions, and set someone on a new path.
As Dench’s Miss Lavish says: “A young girl, transfigured by Italy! And why shouldn't she be transfigured? It happened to the Goths!”
Utilizing a new state-of-the-art laser projector, the Chestnut Hill Film Group will present “A Room with a View” (1985, 117 minutes) on Tuesday, April 29. Tuesday Nights at the Movies screenings begin at 7 p.m. at Woodmere (9201 Germantown Avenue. Doors open at 6:30. Light refreshments are served. Films are free to attend, but contributions are gratefully accepted.
Lily Williams is President of the Chestnut Hill Film Group and Woodmere’s Director of Development.
