A Room with a View

3/11/2024

**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 (B

9/14/2025

You can just imagine his delight when Simon Callow was told that not only would get to don some ecclesiastical cloth here, but he’d also get to romp around the lake naked with Julian Sands and Rupert Graves - thus taking part in a scene that has become iconic for just about every gay film maker in the history of last forty years! The rest of this doesn’t quite compare, but is still a charmingly characterful assessment of the idle middle-class at play in early 20th century Firenze. There’s a bit of disgruntlement at the lodgings of “Charlotte” (Maggie Smith) and her cousin “Lucy” (Helena Bonham Carter) because they don’t have a room overlooking the Arno. Fortunately, the kindly “Mr. Emerson” (Denholm Elliott) is travelling with his son “George” (Sands) and they are prepared to swap. That’s