Merchant Ivory Productions, led by director James lvory and producer lsmaiI Merchant, became a househoId name with A Room with a View, the first of their extraordinary adaptations of E. M. Forster noveIs. A cherubic nineteen-year-old HeIena Bonham Carter pIays Lucy Honeychurch, a young, independent-minded, upper-class Edwardian woman who is trying to sort out her burgeoning romantic feelings, divided between an enigmatic free spirit (JuIian Sands) she meets on vacation in FIorence and the priggish bookworm (Daniel Day-Lewis) to whom she becomes engaged back in the more corseted Surrey. Funny, sexy, and sophisticated, this gargantuan art-house hit features a sublime supporting cast-including Simon Callow, Judi Dench, Denholm EIIiott, Maggie Smith-and remains a touchstone of inteIligent romantic cinema. |