Movie news on your iPhone today!
Advertisement
Sign in
Username   Password         Forgot password?
Wanna join? Sign up
Find movies you'll love
Howards End
  • 0
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Rate this movie.

Watch trailer Watch trailer

Rent it, watch it, find it

Advertisement
Synopsis
One of the best Ismail Merchant/James Ivory films, this adaptation of E. M. Forster's classic 1910 novel shows in careful detail the injuriously rigid British class consciousness of the early 20th century. The film's catalyst is "poor relation" Margaret Schlegel (Emma Thompson), who inherits part of the estate of Ruth Wilcox (Vanessa Redgrave), an upper-class woman whom she had befriended. The film's principal characters are divided by caste: aristocratic industrial Henry Wilcox (Anthony Hopkins); middle-echelon Margaret and her sister Helen (Helena Bonham Carter); and working-class clerk Leonard Bast (Sam West) and his wife (Nicola Duffett). The personal and social conflicts among these characters ultimately result in tragedy for Bast and disgrace for Wilcox, but the film's wider theme remains the need, in the words of the novel's famous epigram, to "only connect" with other people, despite boundaries of gender, class, or petty grievance. Filmed on a proudly modest budget, Howards End offers sets, spectacles, and costumes as lavish as in any historical epic. Nominated for 9 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, the film took home awards for Thompson as Best Actress, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's adapted screenplay, and Luciana Arrighi's art direction. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast

Helena Bonham Carter Helen Schlegel
Nicola Duffett Jacky Bast
Barbara Hicks Miss Avery
Jo Kendall Annie
Mark Payton Percy Cahill
Jemma Redgrave Evie Wilcox
Vanessa Redgrave Ruth Wilcox
Prunella Scales Aunt Juley Mund
Emma Thompson Margaret Schlegel
James Wilby Charles Wilcox
Simon Callow Music Lecturer
Anthony Hopkins Henry Wilcox
Joseph Bennett Paul Wilcox
Samuel West Leonard Bast

Production Crew

John Ralph Art Director
E.M. Forster Book Author
Celestia Fox Casting
Tony Pierce-Roberts Cinematographer
Ann Wingate Co-producer
Richard Robbins Composer (Music Score)
Jenny Beavan Costume Designer
John Bright Costume Designer
James Ivory Director
Andrew Marcus Editor
Paul Bradley Executive Producer
Christopher Newman First Assistant Director
Ismail Merchant Producer
Luciana Arrighi Production Designer
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala Screenwriter
Ian Whittaker Set Designer
Year: 1992
Runtime: 143
Country: UK
MPAA Rating: PG
for mild language, violence and sensuality
Category: Feature

Genre
Drama

Sound
Dolby

Produced by
Film Four International
Merchant-Ivory Productions
Orion Classics

Release
March 13, 1992 (USA)
by Orion Classics

Awards
1992 - Best Film (Drama) - Golden Globe
1992 - Best Foreign Film - Independent Spirit Award
1992 - Best Picture - Academy
1992 - Best Picture - National Board of Review
1992 - Special 45th Anniversary Prize - Cannes International Film Festival
1992 - Special 45th Anniversary Prize - Cannes Film Festival
1992 - Best Picture - Academy
1992 - Best Picture - Drama - Golden Globe
1992 - Best Picture - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie
1992 - Best Picture - National Board of Review
1992 - Best Foreign Film - Independent Spirit Awards
1992 - Best Picture - Drama - Hollywood Foreign Press Association