Howards End

Merchant Ivory’s award-winning adaptation of E M Forster’s novel stars Emma Thompson, Anthony Hopkins and Vanessa Redgrave in the story of the collision of two families from very different worlds., Lavish, Oscar-laden period drama about two very different families whose worlds collide in the early part of the 20th century., Helena Bonham Carter and Emma Thompson are the central figures in James Ivory’s adaptation of E M Forster’s novel of love, treachery and revenge. Bonham Carter falls for Paul Wilcox (Joseph Bennett) but is rebuffed. Her sister Thompson becomes friends with his mother (Vanessa Redgrave) who promises her the family house, Howards End. But after her death, the will disappears and it appears the inheritance will disappear. Until the widower, Anthony Hopkins, becomes attracted to Thompson., Helena Bonham Carter and Emma Thompson are the central figures in James Ivory’s adaptation of E M Forster’s novel. Bonham Carter falls for Paul Wilcox but is rebuffed. Her sister Thompson becomes friends with his mother who promises her the family house, Howards End. But after her death, the will disappears as does her inheritance until the widower, Anthony Hopkins, becomes attracted to Thompson., One of the best Ismail Merchant/James Ivory films, this adaptation of E. M. Forster’s classic 1910 novel shows in careful detail the injuriously rigid British class consciousness of the early 20th century. The film’s catalyst is “poor relation” Margaret Schlegel (Emma Thompson), who inherits part of the estate of Ruth Wilcox (Vanessa Redgrave), an upper-class woman whom she had befriended. The film’s principal characters are divided by caste: aristocratic industrial Henry Wilcox (Anthony Hopkins); middle-echelon Margaret and her sister Helen (Helena Bonham Carter); and working-class clerk Leonard Bast (Sam West) and his wife (Nicola Duffett). The personal and social conflicts among these characters ultimately result in tragedy for Bast and disgrace for Wilcox, but the film’s wider theme remains the need, in the words of the novel’s famous epigram, to “only connect” with other people, despite boundaries of gender, class, or petty grievance. Filmed on a proudly modest budget, Howards End offers sets, spectacles, and costumes as lavish as in any historical epic. Nominated for 9 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, the film took home awards for Thompson as Best Actress, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s adapted screenplay, and Luciana Arrighi’s art direction., A period drama focusing on personal and social conflicts between three families from different social classes. It follows two sisters who become involved with a wealthy and domineering family and a working-class clerk’s journey to tragedy.