Today at 1:30 in the library Media Room, the Year of the Mediterranean program will be showing "A Room With a View", directed by James Ivory, produced by Ismail Merchant and based on the novel by E.M. Forster. This is one of the best-known films the YM program has shown this year. The movie won three Oscars in 1986, for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, and Best Costume Design. It was nominated for five more, including Best Director, Best Picture, Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Denholm Elliott) and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Dame Maggie Smith... you know, she plays Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films, although she was an esteemed actress long before she added that little credit to her resume).
The movie begins in one of my favorite cities in the world: Florence, Italy. Two English women, Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham Carter) and her chaperone Charlotte Bartlett (Smith) are there on holiday, and they are disappointed that their hotel rooms don't have views. At dinner they meet fellow hotel guests Mr. Emerson (Elliott) and his son, George (Julian Sands). The gentlemen gallantly offer to trade rooms with the ladies. During their Italian vacation, George and Lucy develop feelings for one another. Too bad she's engaged to someone else... Will Lucy choose the traditional path and marriage that is expected of her? Or will she choose a wild life of unrestrained passion with George?
Well, I'm not going to tell you. Come to the movie and see for yourself.
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