A Room with a View
Reviews
Filipe Manuel Neto
**A film that seems to be more concerned with criticizing the manners of the 19th century than with telling us a good story.** The film is set in the early years of the 20th century and is a romantic story that begins when a young British girl stays in a guesthouse in Florence among other English tourists. The room she received does not have a view over the River Arno, so she agrees to exchange with a young man, with progressive and daring ideas, who will win her heart. When they return to England, the get-together is inevitable. I haven't read the book this film is based on, but I believe those who say the adaptation is respectful. Written by James Ivory, it won three Oscars (Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction and Best Adapted Screenplay) and was also nominated for other awards (Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Film). However, if we think about it, almost no one remembers it nowadays, except for big cinema fans. As a romantic film, it works and fits into that cliché of couples who break conventions to experience love, a utopia that leaves the majority of the female audience daydreaming. It's not a bad story, but we know where it will end. There is a profound anachrony underlying the film. It is not visible in the production itself, which is luxurious and expensive, with excellent sets, makeup, hairstyles, costumes and intelligently selected props. However, watching the film calmly, we detect the anachrony in the way in which British society at the time was portrayed: etiquette, good manners and social conventions appear as “castrating” love and passions, when in fact few people in that society overvalued love in the same way we do. This must be in the original book, of course, but it is still a “black and white” vision of a past that is judged in the light of our eyes. Despite this, it deserves clear praise for the sets, costumes and props, for its magnificent cinematography, where warm colors and the most touristic landscapes and places in Florence (one of the most beautiful in Europe) stand out, and for an excellent soundtrack, solidly based on classical and lyrical pieces that may, or may not, be recognized by the public. However, what stands out in the film and gives it greater value is the extraordinary performance by a luxurious cast full of strong, talented and well-known names. A very particular ovation is justified by the work of Helena Bonham Carter, in her debut in the seventh art, marking the start of her great career in cinema. Equally incredible was the chameleonic Daniel Day-Lewis, who gave us an affected and pompous gentleman who gave soul and grace. Maggie Smith is always a safe bet, especially when she plays characters within her “comfort zone”, but I found her somewhat dull. Denholm Elliott is very good, but not incredible as Julian Sands, who has one of the central roles in the plot. He was one of those actors who would have done better by spending a little more time working in Europe before trying his luck in the USA. He was very good, but he lacked opportunities in the land where they supposedly appear. Allow me to make an aside: in one of those strange coincidences in life, I saw this film yesterday and just now saw, at the Oscars ceremony, this actor's name in memoriam by having passed away in 2023. What more can I say? Rest in peace.
Movie Recommendation
A Taste of Honey1961-10-01While out to avoid spending time with her narcissistic and promiscuous mother, sixteen-year-old Jo has a brief affair that leaves her pregnant and abandoned. When her mother remarries, Jo's only support becomes her friend Geoffrey, a homosexual.More...
Howards End1992-03-13A saga of class relations and changing times in an Edwardian England on the brink of modernity, the film centers on liberal Margaret Schlegel, who, along with her sister Helen, becomes involved with two couples: wealthy, conservative industrialist Henry Wilcox and his wife Ruth, and the downwardly mobile working-class Leonard Bast and his mistress Jackie.More...
A Passage to India1984-12-14Set during the period of growing influence of the Indian independence movement in the British Raj, the story begins with the arrival in India of a British woman, Miss Adela Quested, who is joining her fiancé, a city magistrate named Ronny Heaslop. She and Ronny's mother, Mrs. Moore, befriend an Indian doctor, Aziz H. Ahmed.More...
California Suite1978-12-15The misadventures of four groups of guests at the Beverly Hills Hotel.More...
Alfie1966-03-29A young man leads a promiscuous lifestyle until several life reversals make him rethink his purposes and goals in life.More...
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie1969-02-24A headstrong young teacher in a private school in 1930s Edinburgh ignores the curriculum and influences her impressionable 12-year-old charges with her over-romanticized worldview.More...
The Children of Huang Shi2008-04-03About young British journalist, George Hogg, who with the assistance of a courageous Australian nurse, saves a group of orphaned children during the Japanese occupation of China in 1937.More...
The Substitute2022-10-20Lucio, a prestigious university professor, takes the position of substitute teacher at a high school in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, where he grew up. Through tales, novels and poetry, he tries to distract his class from the harsh reality of their everyday lives. But soon, he must step out of his professional duties when Dilan, one of his students, is threatened by a local drug kingpin.More...
Rhapsody1954-04-16A rich, young beauty, Louise Durant, follows the man she loves and hopes to marry to Zurich where he studies violin at the conservatory. A piano student at the conservatory falls madly in love with Louise. The violinist loves his music first and Louise second. The pianist loves Louise first and his music second. Louise must ultimately choose which man she wants.More...
Enchanted April1991-11-27When married British women Rose Arbuthnot and Lottie Wilkins decide to take a break from their respective spouses, they stay at a castle in Italy for a quiet holiday. Joining the ladies is Caroline Dester, a young socialite, and Mrs. Fisher, an older aristocrat. Liberated from their daily routines, the four women ease into life in rural Italy, and each finds herself transformed by the experience.More...
The V.I.P.s1963-09-01Wealthy passengers fogged in at London's Heathrow Airport fight to survive a variety of personal trials.More...
Unrelated2008-09-19A woman in an unhappy relationship takes refuge with a friend's family on holiday in Tuscany.More...
Morning in the Streets1959-03-25Denis Mitchell’s companion piece to ‘Night in the City’ follows various conversations during a morning in Liverpool. As children play on bomb sites and in playgrounds, the elderly reminisce about their own childhoods. It’s a city still recovering from the Blitz over a decade before, not yet the home of football and music that it would become. Although much of the shooting took place in Liverpool, areas of Manchester, Salford and Stockport also make an appearance.More...
I'm No Angel1933-10-06The bold Tira works as dancing beauty and lion tamer at a fair. Out of an urgent need of money, she agrees to a risky new number: she'll put her head into the lion's mouth! With this attraction, the circus makes it to New York and Tira can pursue her dearest occupation— flirting with rich men and accepting expensive presents.More...
The Woman in the Rumor1954-06-20After living a traumatic experience in Tokyo, Yukiko returns to Kyoto, where Hatsuko, her mother, runs a brothel, which upsets Yukiko very much.More...
An Invisible Sign2010-10-06Mona Gray is a 20-year-old loner who, as a child, turned to math for salvation after her father became ill. As an adult, Mona now teaches the subject and must help her students through their own crises.More...
Cromwell1970-07-16Disgusted with the policies of King Charles I, Oliver Cromwell plans to take his family to the New World. But on the eve of their departure, Cromwell is drawn into the tangled web of religion and politics that will result in the English Civil War.More...
Oddball2015-09-17An eccentric chicken farmer, with the help of his granddaughter, trains his mischievous dog Oddball to protect a penguin sanctuary from fox attacks in an attempt to reunite his family and save their seaside town.More...
Holy Smoke1999-09-04While on a journey of discovery in exotic India, beautiful young Ruth Barron falls under the influence of a charismatic religious guru. Her desperate parents then hire PJ Waters, a macho cult de-programmer who confronts Ruth in a remote desert hideaway. But PJ quickly learns that he's met his match in the sexy, intelligent and iron-willed Ruth.More...
Drowning by Numbers1988-09-10Three generations of women who seek to murder their husbands share a solidarity for one another which brings about three copy-cat drownings.More...
Similar Movies
To a Land Unknown
2025-02-14Cousins Chatila and Reda are saving to pay for fake passports to get out of Athens. When Reda loses their hard-earned cash to his drug addiction, Chatila hatches an extreme plan to pose as smugglers in an attempt to get them out of their desperate situation before it is too late.The Beguiled
1971-01-23Offbeat Civil War drama in which a wounded Yankee soldier, after finding refuge in an isolated girls' school in the South towards the end of the war, becomes the object of the young women's sexual fantasies. The soldier manipulates the situation for his own gratification, but when he refuses to completely comply with the girls' wishes, they make it very difficult for him to leave.Petals and Memories
2025-04-25There is no descriptionWaiting to Exhale
1995-12-22Cheated on, mistreated and stepped on, the women are holding their breath, waiting for the elusive "good man" to break a string of less-than-stellar lovers. Friends and confidants Vannah, Bernie, Glo and Robin talk it all out, determined to find a better way to breathe.Sweet Revenge: A Hann...
2021-08-08As Hannah and Mike experience engaged life while balancing their busy careers, a murder at a 24-hour gym complicates their wedding planning.The Door-to-Door Book...
2024-10-10Carl’s life runs like clockwork: every day, he goes door-to-door delivering books to a handful of loyal customers. He knows their preferences and takes pride in selecting the perfect story for each of them. But his well-ordered life is turned upside down by a cheerful nine-year-old girl, Schascha, who decides to join him on his daily book round. Schascha’s unique outlook on life helps Carl to come out of his shell and realise that his customers are so much more than just that to him. But when Carl unexpectedly loses his job, this vibrant community starts to fall apart - and it will take the power of books and all Schascha’s determination to bring them back together again.A Rainy Day in New Yo...
2019-07-26Two young people arrive in New York to spend a weekend, but once they arrive they're met with bad weather and a series of adventures.Laddie
1940-01-18Handsome Laddie Stanton courts neighbor Pamela Pryor, meeting opposition from her stern military father, recently immigrated from England.Billy Lynn's Long Hal...
2016-11-1019-year-old Billy Lynn is brought home for a victory tour after a harrowing Iraq battle. Through flashbacks the film shows what really happened to his squad – contrasting the realities of war with America's perceptions.From Here to Eternity...
2014-07-03In 1941 Hawaii, a private is cruelly punished for not boxing on his unit's team, while his captain's wife and second in command are falling in love.Mother, Couch
2024-07-05The members of a dysfunctional family find themselves mysteriously trapped in an antiquated furniture store when their elderly matriarch suddenly refuses to get up from one of the display couches.Valašský vojvoda
1973-01-21There is no descriptionTouch
2024-05-29Soon after the break of the pandemic and realizing that his clock is ticking, Kristofer gets the urge to embark on a journey to try to find out what really happened when his Japanese girlfriend mysteriously vanished without a trace from London fifty years earlier.Liarmouth
No data for this movieAdaptation of Waters' novel of the same name. Script is written, has not been picked up.Satantango
1994-02-08Inhabitants of a small village in Hungary deal with the effects of the fall of Communism. The town's source of revenue, a factory, has closed, and the locals, who include a doctor and three couples, await a cash payment offered in the wake of the shuttering. Irimias, a villager thought to be dead, returns and, unbeknownst to the locals, is a police informant. In a scheme, he persuades the villagers to form a commune with him.The Wind
1928-09-15When Letty Mason relocates to West Texas, she finds herself unsettled by the ever-present wind and sand. Arriving at her new home at the ranch of her cousin, Beverly, she receives a surprisingly cold welcome from his wife, Cora. Soon tensions in the family and unwanted attention from a trio of suitors leave Letty increasingly disturbed.My War Gone By, I Mis...
No data for this movieThe film is based on the 1999 book of the same name by Anthony Lloyd.Lalibela
2022-10-19On the eve of Easter, an icon depicting the Ethiopian Mother of God enters a Ukrainian village. After the icon is noticed by regular parishioners, a conflict begins between the young priest and his flock. Peasants do not agree to have a dark-skinned Mother of God in the church. One night someone makes his way to the church and cuts the icon. After the night events, the icon begins to pour myrrh.A Soldier's Story
1984-09-14In a rural town in Louisiana, a black Master Sergeant is found shot to death just outside the local Army Base. Military lawyer, Captain Davenport—also a black man—is sent from Washington to conduct an investigation. Facing an uncooperative chain of command and fearful black troops, Davenport must battle with deceit and prejudice in order to find out exactly who really did kill the Master Sergeant.Billy Liar
1963-08-15A young Englishman dreams of escaping from his working class family and dead-end job as an undertaker's assistant. A number of indiscretions cause him to lie in order to avoid the penalties. His life turns into a mess and he has an opportunity to run away and leave it all behind.