Review of A Room with a View (1986) by Flipje — 26 May 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 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.
This review of A Room with a View (1986) was written by Flipje on 26 May 2021.
A Room with a View has generally received very positive reviews.
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