HOWARD'S END
A film review by kreme@isis.cs.du.edu
Copyright 1992 kreme@isis.cs.du.edu
Dir: James Ivory
Starring: Vanessa Redgrave,
Anthony Hopkins,
Helena Bonham Carter,
Emma Thompson
Review in short: An excellent movie from the same creative team that brought us A ROOM WITH A VIEW. Highly recommended, +3.5 (-4 to +4)
HOWARD'S END is another film from the same team (Dir: Ivory, Producer: Ismail Merchant, Screenplay: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala) that brough us another E. M. Forster book, A ROOM WITH A VIEW. This film reminds one very much of A ROOM WITH A VIEW--it has the same feeling to it.
The direction manages to set a pace that is slow without ever seeming to bog. The actors are allowed to unfold the story like a wonderful origami swan. Vanessa Redgrave is not in the film very long, but her presence as Ruth Wilcox is felt throughout the movie.
This is a better film than A ROOM WITH A VIEW. The story is handled better, and there is none of the confusion that seemed to mark A ROOM WITH A VIEW. Helena Bonham Carter, who played Lucy in A ROOM WITH A VIEW seems to have a gift for playing a headstrong late-Victorian era young lady. She is more mature in this role, and more head-strong as well, though she is not the center of the story this time.
Who is the center of the story is a question that could spark some argument. My opinion it must be Ruth Wilcox (Redgrave). Either her or Howard's End itself (a charming country estate).
The plot of the movie revolves around the interconnected lives of two sisters, Margaret and Helen Schlegel (Thompson and Carter) and a English family, the Wilcoxes, primarily Ruth Wilcox and Henry Wilcox (Redgrave and Hopkins), and a young man named Leonard Bast (Sam West). The plot is involved and interesting, but this is not a plot-driven movie.
We see a remarkable performance from Anthony Hopkins as a rich upper-class Englishman of rather questionable morals. He is not an evil man, but he is a hypocrite.
I must take the time to comment on the film itself, I saw it in 70 mm (from a 35mm print I believe) and was very impressed with the quality of the image. The colors are soft and moist looking, and there is a gauze-like feeling to the outdoor shots. It is much like A ROOM WITH A VIEW in this regard.
-- kreme@nyx.cs.du.edu kreme@#22 (FV3 Net) [303/722-2009] Vox Name of the Day: Amorphous Lad: (AKA Billy Squirt)
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