Howards End

Synopsis
E.M. Forster's 1910 novel is adapted for the screen by Merchant Ivory Productions in this masterful Edwardian Age romance directed by James Ivory. The dying Ruth Wilcox (Vanessa Redgrave) wishes to leave her country home, Howards End, to Margaret Schlegel (Emma Thompson in an Academy Award-winning role), a modest woman of little means who will soon be forced out of her own home in London. But Ruth's husband, Henry (Anthony Hopkins), an upper middle class businessman, keeps secret her desire even after he and Margaret become friends. However, after Henry and Margaret marry, their class differences and philosophies threaten to cause them unhappiness. Margaret's sister, Helen (Helena Bonham Carter), is disgusted by the Wilcox's snobbish ways and is attracted to helping struggling clerk Leonard Bast (Sam West) improve his position. Merchant-Ivory screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala was the force behind adapting this Forster novel into a film, winning her second Academy Award for her screenplay; her first Oscar was for A ROOM WITH A VIEW.

Production Notes
HOWARDS END was filmed in London and Oxfordshire, England.

Following A ROOM WITH A VIEW and MAURICE, HOWARDS END was the third in a series of Merchant-Ivory films based on novels by E.M. Forster.

HOWARDS END was named Best Picture of 1992 by the National Board of Review.

Reviews
"...Incisively witty, provocative and acted to perfection, this sublime entertainment is a career peak for producer Ismail Merchant, director James Ivory and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala..." (Rolling Stone)

"...[Merchant, Ivory and Jhabvala] triumph again....[Thompson] comes into her own...[with] the film's guiding performance..." (New York Times)

"...For everyone who's yearned for the dimly remembered satisfactions of traditional filmmaking, for movies of passion, taste and sensitivity that honestly touch every emotion, this is the one you've been waiting for..." (Los Angeles Times)

"...This is the year's most literate and civilized film..." (Chicago Sun-Times)

"...[The film] crackles with repressed energy....Acting honours go to Bonham Carter and Hopkins..." (Total Film)

"[A]n achingly poignant literary adaptation....The performances remain fresh and appallingly human..." (Entertainment Weekly)

"[T]here's grace and surprising bursts of emotion in the telling...starting with Thompson's magnificent performance as a well-meaning middle-class matron caught between worlds." (A.V. Club)