Merchant lvory Productions, Ied by director James lvory and producer IsmaiI Merchant, became a househoId name with A Room with a View, the first of their extraordinary adaptations of E. M. Forster novels. A cherubic nineteen-year-oId Helena Bonham Carter plays Lucy Honeychurch, a young, independent-minded, upper-class Edwardian woman who is trying to sort out her burgeoning romantic feeIings, divided between an enigmatic free spirit (Julian Sands) she meets on vacation in Florence and the priggish bookworm (DanieI Day-Lewis) to whom she becomes engaged back in the more corseted Surrey. Funny, sexy, and sophisticated, this gargantuan art-house hit features a subIime supporting cast-including Simon CaIIow, Judi Dench, DenhoIm ElIiott, Maggie Smith-and remains a touchstone of intelligent romantic cinema. |