Romancefest 3: Sadiefest - A Room with a View

Time for another Merchant/Ivory film, this time A ROOM WITH A VIEW. Much funnier and more lighthearted than THE REMAINS OF THE DAY, but no less beautiful, this love story centers on the coming of age of an upper class, Victorian English country girl played by Helena Bonham Carter.

As the story begins, Bonham-Carter and her older chaperone (Maggie Smith) are on vacation in Florence, Italy. Against this backdrop, they meet a variety of eccentric characters, including a free-thinking father (Denholm Elliott) and son (Julian Sands) who are staying in the same hotel. It isn't long before Bonham-Carter and Sands are exchanging furtive glances, and before you know it they've had their first romantic kiss. This is more than a little scandalous as Sands does not seem to share the Victorian ideals of the day.

Back in England, Bonham-Carter becomes engaged to marry a perfect example of these Victorian ideals -- a stuffy and pretentious gentleman played with hilarious flair by Daniel Day-Lewis. Her brief and innocent romance in Florence eventually comes back to haunt her, and Bonham-Carter must eventually decide whether or not to stick with the traditionally safe but boring Day-Lewis, or embrace the free spirit and adventure of Sands.

This is a simple story, so most of the pleasure comes from the way it is told. This is a movie about moods, feelings and tones, not about plot. Sure, there's plenty of plot, most of it in the mind of Bonham-Carter, with her mostly needless machinations and secrets, but where the movie succeeds, it does so by making the viewer feel the warmth of a perfect summer day in the country by seemingly effortless combinations of beautiful photography, nice scenery, pretty music and quirky performances.

It was fun to see all these great dramatic actors turning in some lighter performances than they get to now that they're older. I'm sure they could all still turn in great comedic performances, but it seems like the more respect you get the less chance you get to have any fun. I guess that's the best part about this movie, which might seem surprising given Merchant/Ivory's somewhat stuffy image -- you can tell everyone in it is having fun.