| Howards End (1992) Country: United Kingdom Language: English Year: 1992 Color/BW: COLOR Category: Feature Film Genre: Drama
Description HOWARDS END is a dazzling adaption of E.M. Forsters classic novel of Edwardian England. The film tells the story of three families who are in complete contrast to each other: the Schlegel sisters, Margaret (EMMA THOMPSON) and Helen (HELENA BONHAM CARTER); a rich businessman, Henry Wilcox (ANTHONY HOPKINS), his frail wife, Ruth (VANESSA REDGRAVE), and their children; and an unhappily married young bank clerk, Leonard Bast (SAMUEL WEST), whom the Schlegel sisters befriend. Margaret and Helen are idealistic, independent and highly educated. The Wilcoxes are uncultured and utterly conventional. Leonard Bast is poor and underprivileged, but with intellectual aspirations. Unexpectedly, when Mrs. Wilcox dies, Mr. Wilcox proposes to and is accepted by Margaret Schlegel. Her sister Helen is shattered by this marriage and, in reaction to it, turns to Leonard Bast. The story has become a tangle of opposites, and through the agency of Mr. Wilcoxs son Charles (JAMES WILBY), it turns to tragedy. But in the end, thanks to the moral strength of Margaret who believes that opposites can meet, that different kinds of people can connect, there is a resolution that is almost a triumph.
Nominated for 9 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director, HOWARDS END won 3 Oscars (Best Adapted Screenplay won by RUTH PRAWER JHABVALA, Best Actress won by EMMA THOMPSON and Best Art Direction won by LUCIANA ARRIGHI and IAN WHITTAKER). 11 BAFTA nominations resulted in awards for Best Film for Ivory and Merchant and Best Actress for EMMA THOMPSON. JAMES IVORY was also awarded Best Film at the Evening Standard British Film Awards.
Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Helena Bonham Carter, Emma Thompson, James Wilby, Joseph Bennett, Prunella Scales, Adrian Ross Magenty, Jo Kendall, Jemma Redgrave, Samuel West |
