I’ve rented this movie, and I’ve also watched it on HBO. I watched it “again” last night.
I guess when a screenplay is written based on an E. M. Forster’s novel; not much can go wrong. Especially when the screenwriter has done an exceptional job, which is probably why this screenwriter, Ruth Prewar Jhabvala won an academy award for her effort.
And then when you cast actors such as Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, Vanessa Redgrave, Helena Bonham Carter among others, it’s a given that one is going to enjoy this film. I don’t recall not enjoying a film starring Anthony Hopkins. For me it is usually a given
Which is why I’m glad Epinions gives me the opportunity to express my opinion on this film.
Whenever I watch these actors perform I am always transported somewhat seamlessly into the story. After awhile I don’t feel as if I’m watching a story unfold, but feel as if it is unfolding. There’s a different I think.
Here in Howard’s End I am drawn totally into the fictional dream. I identify, empathize, and basically become the characters. That’s because as the story unfolds, motivation for each characters becomes clear to me, and based on what I perceive, I will start to understand why a character is acting or reacting in such a manner.
Many movies don’t focus on this aspect(motivation), which I think either makes or breaks a movie’s success. Understanding why a characters acts the way he/she acts makes us part of the story and has us silently saying to ourselves, "Oh yeah, that's why she/he's doing this."
Vanessa Redgrave (Mrs. Wilcox) wants Emma Thompson’s character (Margaret Schlegel) to have Howard’s End. (This is an actual death wish that is never revealed to Margaret until the end.)
Mrs. Wilcox sees in Margaret a younger version of herself. Which is why it is so important in one scene for her to have Margaret see Howards End.
Margaret later in the movie wants Howards End because it signifies roots for her and her family where she will stay with her sister Helen and her sister’s illegitimate son. Because of real estate development going on in their area, they are being asked to move from the house that she and her family have spent years in.
Once at Howards End, neither she nor members of her family will be required to leave again. Howards End is her sense of security.
Margaret forgives her husband (Anthony Hopkins) for indiscretionary behavior (happening years before their marriage) but later would use that forgivingness as leverage for getting him to give her permission for her sister to stay over at Howards End.
Anthony Hopkins,knowing of his first wife’s (Vanessa Redgrave's) last wish finally does honor it by drafting up a Will that leaves Howard’s End to Margaret. This is done either out of a sense of duty, or a sense of guilt.
Helen Schlegel, rebellious, idealist, an outcast of sorts, follows her heart rather than propriety. Exposes both families (the Wilcox’s and Schlegel’s) to the lower end of life by bringing in Leonard Bast (Sam West) and Jackie Bast (Nicola Duffet.) These two are outcasts who are poor and on the edge of starvation. Guilt mostly motivates Helen in the beginning to help poor Mr. Bast, as she feels responsible for the Bast’s present financial plight. Also later, love comes into play and motivates her further when she becomes pregnant and ends up bearing an illegitimate child (Bast’s.)
Besides “motivation” there is definite “momentum” in this story as it moves along to its conclusion. We get a clear sense of time passing, of people evolving, of life changing.
This movie reveals much about the people and how they lived in that particular era (Edwardian England.) I found it interesting when Mrs. Wilcox during a luncheon states she is thankful to not have the right to vote. I supposed many women did not want that responsibility, because with it came greater responsibility, to know more about the outer world than to just focus on their inner world of propriety.
This is an enjoyable movie, one I would probably watch again.
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