Howards End, based on the novel by E. M. Forster, and directed by James Ivory, is a visual treat filled with excellent writing and superb performances. It is also a confounding series of romances in that the love affairs are often wildly surprising in both their means and outcomes. The main characters are richly detailed, and the society they inhabit does all it can to burst off the screen. Howards End is complex, sordid, enthralling, and an absolute must-watch. This 23-year-old movie has in no way aged in an awkward way and still deserves the accolades it earned upon its release; these include nine Academy Award nominations, with a win for Emma Thompson as Best Actress.
Buy Howards End 4K UHDThe story involves three disparate families. Henry and Ruth Wilcox (Anthony Hopkins and Vanessa Redgrave) represent the upper class who enjoy their leisurely days on Ruth’s lush estate and grounds outside London known as Howards End. Margaret and Helen Schlegel (Emma Thompson and Helena Bonham Carter) are sisters who represent a sort of intellectual middle class. They are not hurting, but they live in a house in London that is doomed, at the end of the year’s lease, to be razed to make way for a series of flats. Last, Leonard and Jacky Bast (Samuel West and Nicola Duffett) represent the “struggling” class. Leonard is a junior clerk and Jacky is, well, just Jacky: fun-loving, daring, and, most importantly, somebody’s surprising former lover.
The Wilcox’s and the Schlegel’s met a year prior to the beginning of the movie while on vacation in Germany. They are acquaintances on the verge of true friendship. The Schlegels meet the Basts when Helen accidentally takes Leonard’s umbrella and leads him back to her house where there is a brief, requisite comedy of errors. The Schlegels want to help Leonard in his career and ask for advice from Henry Wilcox. Henry tells them that Leonard is working at a business that will go under by Christmas. His advice is that Leonard find another position as a clerk while he still has a job. Leonard takes the advice, finds a clerk’s position, is let go when the new company goes under, and is turned away at his old job which is still running like a well-oiled machine. The worst part is that these errors of judgment and bad advice have no effect on Henry. He is not as patient with the poor as Margaret and Helen Schlegel.
Helen becomes incredibly angry with Henry over how he has treated Leonard while Margaret may, on the other hand, be falling in love with him. Helen disappears to Germany for a year, sends vague, uncommunicative postcards, and returns pregnant to the surprise of almost nobody. Like most romances, almost everything is tied up nicely. What is different with Howards End is that some of the threads have a sinister feel about them. The lower class is punished ruthlessly, the middle-class are sly and manipulative, while the upper-class is priggish and insular. All of this leads to enthralling surprises and misdirection. The underlying darkness helps to solidify Howards End as a timeless classic.
UHD Disc 1 and Blu-ray Disc 1 Special Features:
- Audio Commentary by Film Critics Wade Major and Lael Lowenstein
Blu-ray Disc 2 Bonus Features:
- 2016 Re-Release Trailer
- Returning to Howards End: James Ivory in conversation with Laurence Kardish
- Interview with James Ivory and Vanessa Redgrave
- Q & A with James Ivory
- 1992 Behind-the-Scenes Featurette
- Building Howards End
- The Design of Howards End
- James Ivory Remembers Ismail Merchant
- Original Theatrical Trailer
