A Room with a View | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | James Ivory |
Produced by | Ismail Merchant |
Screenplay by | Ruth Prawer Jhabvala |
Based on |
A Room with a View by E. M. Forster |
Starring | |
Music by |
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Cinematography | Tony Pierce-Roberts |
Edited by | Humphrey Dixon |
Production
companies |
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Distributed by | Curzon Film Distributors |
Release date
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Running time
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117 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | |
Box office | $21 million |
A Room with a View is a 1985 British romance film, directed by James Ivory and produced by Ismail Merchant, of E. M. Forster's 1908 novel of the same name. The film closely follows the novel by use of the chapter titles to section the film into thematic segments. The film won three Academy Awards among the films in 1985. Set in England and Italy, it is about a young woman in the restrictive and repressed culture of Edwardian era England and her developing love for a free-spirited young man.
Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham-Carter) is from an English village in Surrey and is on holiday in Italy with her much older cousin and chaperone, Charlotte Bartlett (Maggie Smith). Charlotte is conventionally English, with an extremely restrictive personality, and she tends to get her way by expressing her emotions to manipulate others. Lucy has been brought up in an upper-middle class but loving and easygoing household, and has fewer inhibitions, which creates strong tension between herself and Charlotte. They are contrasted with the more free-thinking and free-spirited backdrop of Italy.
At a small pensione in Florence, Lucy meets such people as the Reverend Mr. Beebe (Simon Callow), the two Miss Alans (Fabia Drake and Joan Henley), the author Eleanor Lavish (Judi Dench), but most importantly, the nonconformist Mr. Emerson (Denholm Elliott) and his handsome, philosophical son, George (Julian Sands), who becomes friends with Lucy. These men, although also English, represent the forward-thinking ideals of the turn-of-the-century, seeking to leave behind the repression and caution that was the norm in Victorian times.