Carter goes on a trip to Italy with Smith as a chaperon. There, she is briefly romanced by George (Julian Sands), the occasionally outrageous son of well-intentioned but obnoxious Denholm Elliott. Lucy spurns George, returns to her lavish English country manor, and becomes engaged to Cecil (Daniel Day-Lewis), who looks like Mr. Peanut but instead has a chilly smile. To make things more muddled, George shows up to romance Lucy despite her engagement.
How others will see it. A Room with a View was no blockbuster, but it made excellent money for an art house movie. Critics hailed it, and the British Academy Awards showered it with 14 nominations and five wins, including Best Film, Best Actress (Maggie Smith) and supporting actress (Judi Dench). Never mind that Dench's role was tiny, and Smith's role was supporting. At the Oscars, the film garnered eight nominations and three wins.
imdb.com user ratings show that while men like the movie, women love it. Film junkies will enjoy it for its cast as well. Dench, Smith, and Denholm Elliott are familiar supporting actors, and it is always interesting to see the ultimate method actor, Daniel Day-Lewis, in an eccentric role.
How I felt about it. When I first graded A Room with a View more than ten years ago, I was mightily impressed with it. Seeing it again with a more jaded eye, I couldn't help but notice some remarkable coincidences. The Emersons move close enough to the Honeychurches to become tennis partners. Eleanor Lavish apparently finishes her novel and publishes it and it gets in the hands of Cecil, all in a matter of weeks. Of all the scenes in the novel, Cecil just happens to be reading aloud the passage concerning Lucy and George in the barley field when Lucy overhears him. Such things only happen in the movies.
One also has to wonder whether the unctuous Mr. Beebe is homosexual, especially given his eagerness to join in the nude bathing with George and Freddy. Also, why should Lucy would become engaged to a fop her family dislikes. And, why is it essential for Lucy to fall in love with George. He's hunky, but has no talent for conversation. At least Cecil would provide entertaining sneers. And, really, how many times would a female tourist have to walk around an Italian village square before someone is brutally stabbed right in front of them? Probably about 300,000 times, I estimate.
Not that any of this much matters. If Mr. Beebe is gay, it's his business. Preposterous coincidences are the manna of movie plots. Lucy became engaged to Cecil on the rebound from George, and if she must fall in love with George to satisfy female viewers, so be it. The important thing is that the characters are all adorable, the dialogue is sterling, and the production values (direction, cinematography, set design, costumes) are first rate.