James Ivory is the best word for define this film. beauty, precise- delicate performance, perfect atmosphere and something else , a small detail as a state o soul. and that is key - the extraordinary art to preserve and give the spirit of novel who contains actors, image, script, lights, dialogs as ingredients. the film of Ivory, and this title is not an exception, are not movies defined by action but perfume bottles.and this is heart of seduction.so, it is difficult to review one of his films in usual manner. but the meeting between sir Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson is one of its fundamental pillars. Helena Bonham Carter is not a revelation but so many years but can be considered the engine of this train

This is one of the finest films ever made, a testament to director James Ivory's unique sensitivity and genius. Of course, he started with a great novel by E. M. Forster, which always helps. But the screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvlala does it complete justice, as was always the case with her magnificent writing for the screen. I recently watched this again for the first time in years. My seeing performances of this story began with a London stage production long ago, where Gemma Jones was so brilliant in the role of the younger Schlegel sister played here by Helena Bonham Carter. This tale is so powerful and dramatic that it lends itself to novel, stage, and screen with equal facility. The story is bitingly, savagely critical of the hypocrisy and social injustice of England a century ago. This film's luminous centre is given it from the very first opening travelling shot, where Vanessa Redgrave is seen and followed as she roams in the twilight through her beloved garden at her house Howard's End, which she had inherited from her brother who died, and where she was born. Ivory avoids needless lighting, and we can barely make her out sometimes as she looks lovingly upon the flowers, the tree branches, and smells the redolent air, taking in the scents of early night. She stands outside looking into the drawing room through the open bow window, and is absorbing the adored atmosphere of the home she loves above all else in the world. Although she dies rather early in the film, Redgrave, as Ruth Wilcox, is radiant, mystical, supernatural in her mysterious performance, and she gives that inescapable tone of an underlying reality, of a concealed fate, beneath the surface of events, which make this film so utterly magical. All of the major performances are sensationally brilliant. Anthony Hopkins is so convincing as a crisp, matter-of-fact man of business who is in denial of all deeper feelings. Emma Thompson is at her most glorious as the infectiously irreverent and joyously alive older sister to the more serious Helena Bonham Carter. But in their scenes together they convey the carefree and heedless sisterliness of a joyful and playful household, they chatter together like magpies who have known each other since birth, they play, they joke, they romp, and truly they have captured on film exactly what such people could be like in those days. I knew groups of sisters like that as late as the 1960s and even the 1970s, before that terminal social decay set in, which destroyed all real joy in people's home lives and eradicated all such spontaneity and innocent fun in the drawing room. Every scene of this film reeks of authenticity and screams out: 'I'm really happening!' Or at least: 'Such things happened once!' Every scene of this film is composed so perfectly, the costumes are so exquisite, the art direction and production design are sensational beyond even the words of E. M. Forster to describe. The music is chosen so sensitively. Every breath is choreographed in this sumptuous spectacle of a lost world. As you watch this, you keep thinking: there is only one James Ivory. And he truly is an ivory in the lapidary sense, for he and everything he touches are carved by the gods.

Having already seen A Room with a View and loving it, I saw Howards End having a feeling it would be good. After seeing it, I absolutely loved it, and think it marginally better than A Room with a View. Directed by James Ivory, produced by Ismail Merchant and written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, it is a remarkably faithful adaptation of the novel, and on top of this is also an elegant, nuanced and fascinating film.The period detail is perfect. What I loved about A Room with a View especially was its gorgeous Italian settings. Here it is just as gorgeous, while also having a certain elegance about it. You can never go wrong with beautiful scenery, wondrous costumes and elegant-looking locations, Howards End had all three of those. The music is also a marvel, beautiful, haunting and hypnotic, somewhat reminiscent of a Phillip Glass score, while having a few snatches of Percy Grainger and Beethoven too.The script is very faithful in style to the book and warmth and depth is given to the characters, and the direction is sensitive and nuanced very like how it was in A Room with a View. The plot is quite complex, even on first viewing I found it a little hard to keep up with everything. Then again, this is the sort of film you may need to see more than once. It is quite slow moving, and at over 140 minutes hard to sit through in one sitting, but the period detail, music, screenplay and acting made the film pleasurable, elegant and even moving.Speaking of the acting, the whole cast give very strong performances, while not standing out from one another. Emma Thompson is endearingly-beautiful in Howards End, more beautiful than she looked in Much Ado About Nothing, and gives a moving and spirited portrayal of Margaret. Helena Bonham Carter delivers one of her best ever performances in this film, a performance filled with depth and passion that really wants to make you feel for her character. Vanessa Redgrave while her role is brief still leaves a lasting impression in a characterisation that is moving and wholly relevant, while as the cold Mr Wilcox Anthony Hopkins who a year later would give a brilliant performance in The Remains of the Day(another stylish and nuanced film) shows what a fine actor he is as he gives yet another fine performance. The more minor characters were also very well done, from a spirited Samuel West, whose character Leonard Bast exemplifies the low expectations of the clerking classes, to a suitably serious Jemma Redgrave as Evie Wilcox.Overall, moving, elegant, nuanced and impeccably acted, Howards End is a must see. 9.5/10 Bethany Cox

Generally, when I start writing my reviews, in the first paragraph I explain the movie's plot. This is not gonna be the case here, because 'Howards End' has such a complex plot that I would lost about four paragraphs talking about it. All I'm gonna say is that this movie follows the events of three families in the early 20th century Victorian England - the aristocrats and capitalists Wilcox, the humanistic and philanthropist Schlegels, and the poor and hard-working Basts, and it shows how these so-different families are related to each other.The Oscar-winning screenplay here is based on a novel by E.M. Forster. Even though I haven't read the book, the story itself is impressive, and it seems like Ruth Prawer Jhabvala took full advantage of it, making the movie extremely believable and understandable. Of course that are maybe parts of the book missing, but the overall effect is great. It's one of those movies that you don't want for it to end, it could easily have another hour. That's why I find the ending very unsatisfactory, since it doesn't explain what happened to some of the main characters, and a few things are just weird. The script has also a few flaws, but they doesn't tear up the whole experience.There's really nothing to talk about the acting in this movie. Only that its's absolutely marvelous. The cast features names like Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, Vanessa Redgrave and Helena Bonham Carter, and they are all great. There are also not so well-known names that do a nice job, but they don't obfuscate the glow of these stars. It seems like an acting contest, where everyone is a winner, especially the audience, that is able to witness one of the best overall cast in movie's history. Everything here feels so real and natural.This excellent acting and story really sets the mood, but it wouldn't work with a weak director. A thing that James Ivory absolutely isn't. In order to direct this great cast and conduct this incredible script, James Ivory never lefts the audience feel bored or with that feeling that the movie never ends. There are some really intelligent angles and shots here, some of which you'd never seen before. That's right, James Ivory got to be original in 1992 (!). Every other aspect of this movie is perfect. The set-decoration and art- direction put you into that period in history, and the photography, along with the soundtrack composed by an original music score and well- known classic songs, the mood here couldn't be better.Overral, this movie is an incredible adaption. The excellent script, along with a perfect acting and incredible direction, set-decoration and art-direction, makes this movie the perfect representation of Victorian England. 9/10