Howards End

Genre: social and psychological drama
With: Emma Thompson, Anthony Hopkins, Helena Bonham Carter
Director: James Ivory
Release: 1991
Studio: Merchant/Ivory Productions, Nippon Herald Films, Inc, Channel Four Television – Sony Pictures Classics
Rating: PG
MBiS score: 8.3/10


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Story-line: in turn-of-the-century England, the friendship between the Schlegel sisters and the well-to-do Wilcox family is put to the test on several occasions.
Pluses: a great cast of characters (including the titular property, Howards End), solid acting and direction, exquisite period detail, a thoughtful screenplay based on an E.M. Forster novel.
Minuses: this lengthy film (2 hours and 22 minutes) will feel slow at first because it needs a lot of time to set up its plot. Between you and me, its first 100 minutes are rather uneventful except for two brief jolts at the thirty- and sixty-minute marks… but all of that is made up in the last 40 minutes which are absolutely glorious.
Comments: many years ago, I heard the late Gene Siskel state that a good movie starts off slowly and builds to a strong climax. In that vein, I can’t think of a better example than HOWARDS END, a very fine film illustrating Forster’s condemnation of class differences in the England of old. Believe me… once this movie picks up steam, it cannot be stopped.


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