James Ivoryhas long specialized inBritish period dramas, successfully adapting works by esteemed English writers likeE.M. ForsterandKazuo Ishiguro. His directorial debut,ARoom With A View(1985) –– starringJulian Sandsas the free-spirited George Emerson andHelena Bonham Carteras the bourgeois but passionate Lucy Honeychurch –– is both a stellar adaptation of Forster’s 1908 novel and one of the greatest romantic films of all time. Sands, who disappeared while hiking in the San Bernardino Mountains in January, and whosebody was sadly found this week, emerged from the film as one of Britain’s most iconic male actors, charming viewers on both sides of the Atlantic with his brooding but sympathetic portrayal of a young Englishman at loose ends in a foreign country. His eclectic body of work, fromThe Killing Fields(1984) to theWarlockhorror film series (1989-1993), toDario Argento’s adaptation ofThe Phantom of the Opera(1998), is a tribute to his boldness and his far-ranging abilities as an actor.
RELATED:Julian Sands, ‘A Room With a View’ Star, Dead at 65
What Is ‘A Room With a View’ About?
Set during the Edwardian era, the unfolding love story between George and Lucy, which begins on a trip to Italy, plays off nicely against the film’s gently comedic portrayal of English repression and prudery. While George enjoys the company of his open-minded father (Denholm Elliot) in Florence, Lucy yearns to break free from her middle-aged cousin Charlotte’s (Maggie Smith) hypervigilant chaperoning and snobbish disapproval of the Emerson family. She eventually scandalizes Charlotte –– and inadvertently brings a premature end to their trip –– by sharing an impromptu kiss with George in the Italian countryside, unconsciously earning a spot in an upcoming romance novel by the enterprising Eleanor Lavish (Judi Dench). Lucy’s subsequent plans to forget George once she returns to England as she becomes engaged to Cecil Vyse (Daniel Day-Lewis) are derailed when George and his father rent a house in her home village. Forced to confront her lingering feelings for him, Lucy also finds herself caught between Charlotte’s meddlesome influence and her immediate family’s growing distaste for Cecil’s snobbery and hilariously pretentious behavior. Bonham Carter’s earnest performance allows her character to transition from wide-eyed English tourist to buttoned-up society woman, to George’s willing partner.
‘A Room With a View’ Isn’t Just About Romance
Thoughthe chemistrybetween Bonham Carter and Sands is sizzling, it’s the film’s focus on authentic emotion that makes it so remarkable. Lucy’s initial refusal to admit her feelings for George ends up alienating her well-meaning family members who are confused by her erratic behavior and willful determination to stay engaged to Cecil –– who is proudly removed from the world of emotions –– even as it becomes clear that they have nothing in common. However, Lucy gradually comes to realize that turning her back on her much deeper feelings for George is not only dishonest but amounts to a kind of self-betrayal. It’s this same emotional dishonesty that, the viewer surmises, has so embittered and confused her cousin Charlotte, decades her senior and still firmly ensconced in a Victorian past.
Through her interactions with the Emerson family, however, Lucy finally understands that accepting her love for George and admitting her error in pushing him away is her most honest, and authentic, path to happiness. Doing so requires her to reject the practical, repressed version of herself to which Charlotte expects her to adhere –– in short, to admit that she’s wrong. In this way,ARoom With A Viewis not only a film about romantic love, but about living by one’s principles, particularly in a social environment that stifles emotions in the name of propriety. Lucy’s gradual coming-of-age is thus defined by the realization of her ignorance about her own emotions; namely, her lasting feelings for George.
Julian Sands Gave Us a Different Romantic Hero
By the same token, George, far from being a one-dimensional romantic hero, abandons his initially gloomy worldview and philosophical uncertainty to embrace his feelings for Lucy. Accepting love and truth as guiding principles means allowing himself to be happy. We get the impression that this hasn’t always been easy for either George or his widowed father, who are both met with disapproval by many of the other English tourists they come across in Italy due to their intellectual interests and dubious social background. Sands brilliantly conveys his character’s playfulness, eccentricity, and endearing combination of boyishness and emotional maturity, all of which eventually make him irresistible to Lucy and to the viewers themselves. His portrayal of George presented audiences with a version of English masculinity distinctly different from that of “Brit Pack” acting contemporaries likeRupert Everett,Colin Firth, andHugh Grant–– the last of whom,before he became a rom-com hero, played slick and worldly roles in similarly nostalgic Merchant-Ivory films likeMaurice(1987), andThe Remains of the Day(1993).
‘A Room With a View’ Will Always Have a Lasting Impact
A Room With A Viewhas since acquired cult status among lovers of romance and period dramas the world over, and among moviegoers in general. This is perhaps because of the way in which it transcends its own well-trodden subgenre –– romantic love in the midst of pre-war English repression –– in favor of something deeper and more mature. Notably,film criticRoger Ebertdescribed it as “an intellectual film, but intellectual about emotions: It encourages us to think about how we feel, instead of simply acting on our feelings. […] Usually, thought and passion are on opposite sides in the movies; this time it’s entertaining to find them on the same side.” Indeed, because of Lucy and George’s parallel philosophical and emotional journeys,ARoom With a Viewbecomes a film that is fundamentally (and rightfully) preoccupied with authenticity. How do we account for our ignorance and admit our youthful mistakes? How do we accept and return the love of others when it conflicts with how we initially perceive ourselves? The film isn’t just a period drama, but a tribute to these profoundly human concerns.
