Review of Room With A View, A

Introduction

I’ll start this review by stating that I have never been one for costume dramas. Left mainly for my wife to watch whilst I am out at work, I have never really seen their attraction. The least I could do then, I thought, would be to give one a chance and approach it with an open mind – willing myself to enjoy the experience. How did I get on? We shall see…

This BAFTA and Academy Award winning film follows Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham-Carter) as she meets, and then falls in love with, a passionate young man whilst travelling abroad on holiday. Chaperoned by her pompous and over-bearing cousin Charlotte Bartlett (Maggie Smith), Lucy is quick to complain that her hotel view is lacking the one key thing to make her stay in Florence complete – a decent view. A subsequent meeting with Mr. Emerson (Denholm Elliott) at the dinner table gives Lucy and Charlotte the opportunity to swap rooms with the Emerson’s, who have a far superior view overlooking the city. At this point Lucy catches the eye of Mr. Emerson’s son, George (Julian Sands) and is intrigued by the free-spirited young man. During the course of the holiday, George takes the opportunity to kiss Lucy, but unfortunately this is all too much for Miss Bartlett who witnesses the embrace and insists they leave for England at once.

Back at their beautiful Surrey home, Lucy falls in love (or at least she thinks she does) with a real upper-class twit called Cecil (Daniel Day-Lewis). Eventually they become engaged, but as time goes on it becomes apparent that they are far from being an ideal match. To see Cecil in action is almost embarrassing, such is his total lack of common sense. And when he first kisses Lucy, I felt like shouting at the TV, it is that cringe-worthy.

But Lucy’s world is thrown asunder as a chance meeting between Cecil and Mr. Emerson brings Lucy and George together once again. Will Lucy be able to fend off George’s manly advances? And will she still marry the utterly useless Cecil?

Video

I am not sure whether director James Ivory was intending to film this production in the classical fuzzy, out-of-focus romantic look, or whether it is just badly filmed. My initial impressions of the image quality were not good as there is a distinct lack of sharpness to the imagery and a washed-out look to the colours (flesh tones were good however). I also noticed a fair amount of speckling, but fortunately could see no artifacting or other compression faults.

Audio

DD Stereo provides for a reasonable audio experience, and obviously whilst not being cutting-edge, is more than adequate for this largely dialogue-driven film. The vocals come across cleanly and are never muffled or subdued. The soundtrack, which features some heavyweight orchestral pieces is captured well but would definitely benefit by the increase in range and quality of a DD5.1 re-master.

Features

We’re not exactly spoilt for choice in the extras department. A poor quality theatrical trailer heads the list, followed by a photo gallery and a limited filmography. None of these are worth re-visiting once seen and come as something of a disappointment. I would have loved to have listened to a commentary by some of the key members of the cast, but I guess the budget just wouldn’t stretch to that.

Conclusion

So, has this film changed my opinion of period dramas?

Well, yes and no. The story is quite interesting and not as slushy as I thought it might be. There are some great characters with some fabulous performances by the whole cast. Cecil was the highlight for me though; he really is the most embarrassing upper-class idiot you could ever imagine. Quite what Lucy saw in him in the first place I’ll never know.

The major problem for me though is that nothing ever really seems to happen in this film. Conversations limp along, not helped at all by Helena Bonham-Carter’s dull delivery. My wife tells me that she is the same in all her films and that fact in itself is enough to put me off future excursions into costume drama country.

For fans of E. M. Forster’s story, this film has a lot to offer. Superb scenery, a fair smattering of quality British acting talent and some great characterisations, “A Room With a View” makes enjoyable viewing.