A saga of class relations and changing times in an Edwardian England on the brink of modernity, the film centers on liberal Margaret Schlegel, who, along with her sister Helen, becomes involved with two couples: wealthy, conservative industrialist Henry Wilcox and his wife Ruth, and the downwardly mobile working-class Leonard Bast and his mistress Jackie.
"Based on the Novel by E.M. Forster"
Top Billed Cast
Emma Thompson
Margaret Schlegel
Helena Bonham Carter
Helen Schlegel
Anthony Hopkins
Henry J. Wilcox
Samuel West
Leonard Bast
Vanessa Redgrave
Ruth Wilcox
Adrian Ross Magenty
Tibby Schlegel
Prunella Scales
Aunt Juley
James Wilby
Charles Wilcox
Detailed Critic & Audience Reviews
B badelfVerified TMDB Critic
2023-11-22
The script itself is not up the level of Remains of the Day, but then E.M.Forster is not Ishiguro (Never Let Me Go). Nevertheless E.M.Forster gives us a huge, complex story that holds our interest for the entire 142 minutes.
And the Ivory-Merchant team contributes a beautiful setpiece, complete with perfect cinematography, locations, costumes and a team of the finest actors in Britain. And two of the Redgrave family to play mother and daughter. The acting from everyone on screen is phenomenal!...
C CinemaSerfVerified TMDB Critic
2024-05-23
I think this might be the pinnacle of the Merchant Ivory storytelling world (with thanks to E.M. Forster), as a strong ensemble cast assembles to tell a tale of Edwardian Britain that brings into stark focus a class system that is just beginning to show some cracks. "Wilcox" (Anthony Hopkins) is what I suppose you'd call nouveau riche. A millionaire industrialist who has acquired quite a few grand country properties from the increasingly impoverished aristocracy. When his first wife (Vanessa Redgrave) dies at the eponymous country cottage, she has apparently promised it to her friend "Margaret...
