Review of A Room with a View (1986) by Espen G — 27 Apr 2008

This is the blueprint of how to make a costume drama!

Never before has a costume drama depicted it's time better or with such eye to details as Merchant and Ivory's stunning adaptation of "A Room With a View". Moreover, there is a sense of care and love to the novel that is conveyed on the screen. It's funny, but never silly, it's a straightforward adaptation, never adding bits and pieces or modern anecdotes that doesn't belong in the plot nor the era. It's lush, but also very economical in its mis-en-scene.

It is done so well, that the only way to know that this film was actually shot in the mid-80s is by looking at the very young Helena Bonham-Carter. The casting is as superb as the rest of the film, all the men are dashing without becoming a cliche and Maggie Smith turns in the performance of a lifetime.

This is the watermark film of this genre, never has any costume film managed to look like it actually was a true depiction, without the present times fashions or styles of film making shining through. And the thing is, it manages it greatness by being a very small production, the lushness is created from tight shots, not grand and sweeping landscape shots. It's the best of it's kind because it never tries to be more or less than what it is - a genre piece.

And of course it is one of the most romantic love stories of all time!