What's an Oscar Flashback (tm)? Read here:
Next on my Netflix queue was Howard's End, which was nominated for Best Picture and for which Emma Thompson won the Best Actress Oscar; Vanessa Redgrave was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar; James Ivory was nominated for the Best Director Oscar; Ruth Prawer Jhabvala won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar; Tony-Pierce Robers was nominated for the Best Cinematography Oscar; Ian Whittaker and Luciana Arrighi won the Best Art Direction/Set Decoration Oscar; Jenny Beaven and John Bright were nominated for the Best Costume Design Oscar; and for which Richard Robbins was nominated for the Best Original Score Oscar (film year, 1992; awarding year, 1993). The other nominees in these categories were:
Best Picture
Unforgiven (Winner)
The Crying Game
A Few Good Men
Scent of a Woman
Best Actress
Indochine - Catherine Deneuve
Lorenzo's Oil - Susan Sarandon
Love Field - Michelle Pfeiffer
Passion Fish - Mary McDonnell
Best Supporting Actress
My Cousin Vinny - Marisa Tomei (Winner)
Damage - Miranda Richardson
Enchanted April - Joan Plowright
Husbands and Wives - Judy Davis
Best Director
Unforgiven - Clint Eastwood (Winner)
The Crying Game - Neil Jordan
The Player - Robert Altman
Scent of a Woman - Martin Brest
Best Adapted Screenplay
Enchanted April
The Player
A River Runs Through It
Scent of a Woman
Best Cinematography
A River Runs Through It (Winner)
L'Amant
Hoffa
Unforgiven
Best Art Direction/Set Decoration
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Chaplin
Toys
Unforgiven
Best Costume Design
Bram Stoker's Dracula (Winner)
Enchanted April
Malcolm X
Toys
Best Original Score
Aladdin (Winner)
Basic Instinct
Chaplin
A River Runs Through It
This film also represents the second of two Oscar-nominated dramas based on classical literature and the second of nine Oscar-nominated dramas topping my Netflix queue, just in case you were keeping track.
Aside from being nominated for a ton of and winning a few Oscars, Howard's End always appealed to me because I love British films, I like a fair few film adaptations of classic novels (The Age of Innocence aside), and I love many of the performers in this piece, including Anthony Hopkins and the ever-engaging Emma Thompson. I knew nothing of the story, though, having never read the E.M. Forster novel on which the film is based, and this is probably my first conscious attempt at watching a Merchant-Ivory picture. Essentially, watching this film represented many things to me, and, luckily, the film was charming, even if a little on the plodding and deliberate side.
Howard's End becomes a hybrid of commentary and subtle critique of British class systems, particularly in the early 20th century. Margaret Schlegel (Thompson), a bourgeois free spirit, befriends an upper-class woman named Ruth Wilcox (Redgrave), who is gravely ill. At the same time, Margaret's sister Helen (Helena Bonham Carter), an even freer spirit, has some decidedly inappropriate relations with the eldest Wilcox son and also comes to meet Leonard Bast (Sam West - the BBC's Prince Caspian!), a working-class clerk and his Eliza Doolittle of a wife, as Helen inadvertently pilfers Mr. Bast's umbrella at a local lecture. Awkward friendships and various conflicts and indictments subsequently abound. Margaret learns that Ruth is ill, and on her deathbed, Ruth, who is quite taken with Margaret, scribbles a note as an addendum to her will, leaving her beloved estate of Howard's End to Margaret, much to the chagrin of industrial lord Henry Wilcox (Hopkins), her husband, and her children. They tear the note and bury the truth from Margaret, even as Henry's associations with her become more frequent, and he becomes enamored of her himself. In the meantime, Helen's friendship with Leonard blossoms into a sexually tense exchange of ideas and, eventually, a crusade for his livelihood after Mr. Wilcox offers the sisters bad business advice concerning Mr. Bast's current employer, which the sisters then relate to Mr. Bast, causing him to seek other, less stable employ. This attempt at undermining Mr. Bast by Mr. Wilcox begins a chain of events that ultimately results in tragedy and disgrace for Wilcox, while the Schlegel sisters stand firmly on their own two feet in the wake of the social upheaval around them.
Howard's End was, at its core, an enchanting story revolving around the human condition, connection, and a lovely piece of property that I would want for myself as much as Ruth Wilcox wanted it for her and for Margaret. While social mores and propriety were examined in the context of three separate socioeconomic classes, such as they were in The Age of Innocence (thought that film centered on the upper stratus of the socioeconomic pyramid), the larger themes at work were, in some ways, more insidious, insightful, and meaningful than in Scorsese's film. And while Howard's End focused on several different characters revolving in concentric and sometimes overlapping circles around the Schlegel sisters, the underlying commentary was never lost or scattered. The story was satisfying and reached an acceptable and reasonable conclusion.
The reason why this film was nominated for so many Oscars was because, again, the production values of this picture were exquisite and superb. Howard's End looked like something from a fairy tale; the art direction fueling the look of these turn-of-the-century English homes was painstakingly detailed, and the cinematographical shifts in light and hue of frame transformed Howard's End into that magical something that made it different from the stuffy Wilcox homes or the cluttered London flat occupied by the Schlegel sisters. The film was as visually interesting as the story was engaging.
I occasionally felt bored, though, only because the pacing was a bit inconsistent, particularly about the time that Henry Wilcox begins courting Margaret. I can only guess that the novel would likely have focused on Margaret's inner turmoil between appeasing her sister, maintaining her individual ideologies, and compromising with her stalwart and traditional fiance, but the film failed to fully flush out that turmoil, and the film slowed up considerably when some of the events felt like a middle-of-the-road round of exposition to stage some of Margaret's subsequent reactions. The narrative flow was not interrupted, and it made sense and set the stage for the following events and ultimate conclusion of the story, but I did start to temporarily lose interest and to yawn somewhere near the end of the second third of the film.
All in all, though, there was an unmistakable examination of class that also seemed to be derisive of the aristocracy and mogul without being obvious or ham-fisted about it, and I think that's why I enjoyed and related to this film more than to The Age of Innocence. While James Ivory's direction lacked the panache of Scorsese, and while the visual presentation was, perhaps, less beautiful than the delicate details of The Age of Innocence, the result was organic and relatable as well as contextual with respect to the fact that the film is set in early 20th century England - after all, it is a very rainy country.
The performances were also wonderful in this film. Every actor was engaging and interesting, with the possible exception of Nicola Duffett as Mrs. Bast. She reminded me of an English Belle Watling from Gone with the Wind but lacked the charm of the actress who played Belle, and it was hard to feel sympathetic to her character, but, perhaps, that was the point, in order to draw a stronger viewer connection to Mr. Bast. I have not seen any of the other nominees in the Best Actress category, but I think it's a good bet that Emma Thompson earned her little golden statuette because she made Margaret so warm and multilayered, funny, wise, tragic, flawed, and interesting. Also, this character was able to experience many different emotions, and the suspension of disbelief was whole and complete thanks to Thompson's expertise at her craft.
Ultimately, I really enjoyed Howard's End because its palpable charm was so infectious, though the film contained some detracting minor flaws in the pacing and occasional performance that kept me from completely falling in love with the film. As such, the film earns an 8 on the ratings scale for very good/minor flaws. I'm not sure if it passes the test. The ending, though reasonable in lieu of the rest of the story, was a little sad, even as the rest of the film provided an emotional roller coaster of a viewing experience. I might have to watch it one more time to be absolutely sure. I am sure I would love to own an estate like Howard's End, though, as I am absolutely sure that I would recommend this film to anyone who might be captivated by such a place themselves.