If there was a scene missing in the book or the film, what do you think it would be? I mean, do you think the story is missing an event that could have happened but didn't? Like, do you think Lucy should have really told people off more or something that should have happned?
"The illusion of effortlessness requires a great effort indeed."
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Just curious if you read the book. It's not supposed to have a "cad". Cecil can be a thoughtless, annoying jerk who doesn't know what real love is, but he's not supposed to be despicable. He's supposed to be conventional, despite his attempts to be otherwise. My point is only that if you don't like the movie for this reason, you probably wouldn't like the book.
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To be driven by lovers- A king might envy us...
they were all just a bit too twee in this movie.
the movie was missing emotion and passion.
the book was perfect.
to the 'cad' guy- not everything has to be 'sensational' to br perfect.
It's just too long (1:57) to hinge on Bonham Carter's inability to get over herself.
I have read the novel several times since my High School years and my answer is: NO. The film is perfect as it is. There are only a handful of films that IMO are perfect from start to finish in every single aspect. 'A Room with a View' is one of them.
It is a simple thing to turn a short story into a two hour movie, but very hard to do that with a full-length novel. This film introduces characters, fleshes them out so that we care about them, tells a good story without leaving out anything really important, and does it in two hours.
So, brilliant film-making that deserves full marks. Arguing about what kind of man Mr Wyze is, or whether Miss Honeychurch could have been portrayed differently -- these are fine topics for discussion. But in my view all the actors were brilliant, none of them did poorly.
I haven't read the book, but plan to. I thought it needed more chemistry from the leads (especially from Helena Bonham Carter). I liked the movie overall, but the last scene was...awkward-looking. Could've been filmed in a better way, I think...and Lucy looked like she was grimacing a bit during the last dinner.
shareI felt the kiss at the end was waaaay to long -it lost all sense of the romantic :(
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I agree with the person who said it is missing nothing! If any more emotion or complicated plot were inserted by the filmmakers (I say "Trust the Merchant-Ivory-Prawer/Jhabvala team!"), then you'd either have an American version of Forster's classic, or a bunch of older lovers, as in a story by Edith Wharton or Henry Jame.
Reticence was expected back then, esp. of a young girl, and Lucy's "education" in matters of the heart, not to mention sexuality, was every bit as lacking as any girl's of that day. So was Cecil's apparently, which is why he was NOT a cad, but just ridiculous, like Mr. Collins of "Pride and Prejudice". Only George and his father stand out as free spirits, which is why they are so threatening to everyone.
Even Lucy's laid-back mother does almost nothing to guide her away from Cecil, though she can't stand him. Freddie voices his disgust but isn't listened to--after all what does HE know? He's just a boy. If anyone else helps Lucy, it is the despised cousin Charlotte, and even the dubious novelist, Miss Lavish (Judi Dench), who exposes George's and Lucy's passion in Tuscany.
As for Bonham-Carter "getting over herself", she was VERY young when she made this! Thus, she was perfect for someone of the upper class who had been spoiled all her life and basically left to her own devices.
The real show-stealers here are Maggie Smith as "Poor Charlotte" (and she IS quite sad), Denholm Elliot as Mr. Emerson, in one his best roles, and Simon Callow as Mr Beebe, the vicar who is not-quite-"moral". After all, he DOES go skinny-dipping with George and Freddie! That was such a hilarious scene, mostly due to the fact that Cecil seemed far more upset than Lucy or Mrs Honeychurch, who were actually laughing.
This actually IS a story about a girl who "gets over herself", but only with lots of help from the people around her who care that she not marry without love, and as Mr Beebe puts it, that she "begins to live as she plays [music]": passionately.
She deserves her revenge, and we deserve to die.
and Lucy looked like she was grimacing a bit during the last dinner.
I read the book and watched both the movie and the recent PBS series - the book is really short - I didn't feel the characters were really fleshed out, so both adaptations didn't have much to work with - the movie was beautiful, but neither one got Cecil right, as far as I'm concerned - the movie showed him as such a priss and the TV show - he was way too louche - in the book he sounded like a handsome figure, just too uptight and proper, until he gets gob smacked and has to rethink his whole out look on love.
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