Howards End (1992)

Director:

James Ivory

Writers:

E.M. Forster (novel)
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (screenplay)

Release Date:

13 March 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A businessman thwarts his wife's bequest of an estate to another woman.

Plot Keywords:

Terminal Illness | Eavesdropping | Aunt | Marriage Proposal | Period Piece

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 22 wins & 25 nominations

Cast

Vanessa Redgrave	...	Ruth Wilcox
Helena Bonham Carter	...	Helen Schlegel
Joseph Bennett	...	Paul Wilcox
Emma Thompson	...	Margaret J. 'Meg' Schlegel
Prunella Scales	...	Aunt Juley
Adrian Ross Magenty	...	Tibby Schlegel
Jo Kendall	...	Annie
Anthony Hopkins	...	Henry J. Wilcox
James Wilby	...	Charles Wilcox
Jemma Redgrave	...	Evie Wilcox
Ian Latimer	...	Stationmaster
Samuel West	...	Leonard Bast
Mary Nash	...	Pianist
Siegbert Prawer	...	Man Asking a Question
Susie Lindeman	...	Dolly Wilcox

Runtime:

140 min

Country:

UK | Japan

Language:

English | German

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Iceland:L | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Chile:TE | Finland:K-8 | France:U | Germany:6 | Norway:11 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG | Singapore:PG | Ireland:PG

Filming Locations:

Admiralty Arch, The Mall, St. James's, London, England, UK

Company:

Merchant Ivory Productions

Trivia:

After playing 'Thompson, Emma' 's sister in this film, Helena Bonham Carter went on to play the love interest of Thompson's husband, Kenneth Branagh, in Frankenstein. It is rumored that Carter was one of the main reasons for the subsequent Branagh/Thompson divorce. The next woman to play Thompson's sister on film (Kate Winslet in Sense and Sensibility) also followed that role by playing Branagh's love interest (in Hamlet).

Quotes:

Aunt Juley: All the Schlegels are exceptional. They are British to the backbone, of course, but their father was German, which is why they care for literature and art.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Comic Relief: The Invasion of the Comic Tomatoes (1993) (TV)

Superb!! Or perhaps you just don't get it...

...and I must admit that on the first viewing, I didn't get it myself.

I'm one of those relative rarities: a straight male that normally enjoys Merchant-Ivory productions. However, I disliked this movie on first viewing (several years ago). In retrospect, I can see that I was not reacting to the movie, but my intense dislike for Anthony Hopkins' character.

I watched it again the other night and was absolutely blown away by it. What a film! Emma Thompson won Best Actress for her performance, and she did her usual terrific job, but frankly I was more impressed by the performance of Helena Bonham Carter. The style of the film is magnificent.

This is a story (like most of E. M. Forster's) about the injustices of class distinctions. However, with a subtlety that I missed on my first viewing, this film is also about karma (what goes around - comes around) and a story of social progress. This film is set in a time when society is coming out of the Victorian age and into the Edwardian. You see contrasts of the past thinking with the progressive thinking all through the movie. A visual metaphor is repeated over and over: the turning of cranks, whether it be on a new-fangled morse code machine, a vintage car, or the wheels of a mighty locomotive. I believe that this represents both karma and progress, forces which Forster sees as unstoppable as the laws of nature.

This is an incredible story, and an incredible piece of film-making.