The manners and manias of polite Edwardian society are studiously dissected in this typical Merchant-Ivory period drama, a handsomely mounted adaptation of E.M. Forster’s 1908 novel.
Sheltered Lucy Honeychurch, holidaying in Florence with her spinister chaperone Charlotte, is kissed by unconventional George Emerson. Frightened by her confusing feelings for him, she returns to England and accepts stuffy Cecil Vyse's proposal. When George reappears, she questions her feelings for Cecil.
A Room With A View (d. James Ivory, 1985) was the first of three adaptations of E.M. Forster novels to emerge from the creative team of director James Ivory, producer Ismail Merchant and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, and was followed by Maurice (1987) and Howards End (1991).