| Howards End | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | James Ivory |
| Screenplay by | Ruth Prawer Jhabvala |
| Based on | Howards End byE. M. Forster |
| Produced by | Ismail Merchant |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Tony Pierce-Roberts |
| Edited by | Andrew Marcus |
| Music by | Richard Robbins (score) Percy Grainger (opening titles and end titles) |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Sony Pictures Classics (United States) Mayfair Entertainment (United Kingdom)[1] |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 142 minutes[1][2] |
| Countries |
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| Language | English |
| Budget | $8 million[4] |
| Box office | $32 million (US/UK) |
Howards End is a 1992historicalromantic drama film directed byJames Ivory, from a screenplay written byRuth Prawer Jhabvala based onthe 1910 novel byE. M. Forster. MarkingMerchant Ivory Productions' third adaptation of a Forster novel (following 1985'sA Room with a View, and 1987'sMaurice), it was the first film to be released bySony Pictures Classics. The film's narrative explores class relations in turn-of-the-20th-century Britain, through events in the lives of the Schlegel sisters. The film starsEmma Thompson,Anthony Hopkins,Helena Bonham Carter andVanessa Redgrave, withJames Wilby,Samuel West,Jemma Redgrave andPrunella Scales in supporting roles.
The film was theatrically released on 13 March 1992 to critical acclaim and commercial success, grossing over $32 million on an $8 million budget. It was in competition at the1992 Cannes Film Festival and won the 45th Anniversary Award. At the65th Academy Awards, the film received a leading nine nominations including forBest Picture, and won three:Best Actress (for Thompson),Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published, andBest Art Direction. At the46th British Academy Film Awards, it garnered a leading eleven nominations, winning two awards;Best Film andBest Actress (for Thompson).
InEdwardian Britain, Helen Schlegel becomes engaged to Paul Wilcox during a moment of passion, while staying at the Wilcox family's country home, Howards End. The Schlegels are an intellectual family of Anglo-Germanbourgeoisie, while the Wilcoxes are conservative and wealthy, led by hard-headed businessman Henry. Helen and Paul quickly decide against the engagement, but she has already sent a telegram informing her sister Margaret, leading to an uproar when the sisters' Aunt Juley arrives and causes a scene.
Months later in London, the Wilcoxes take a flat across the street from the Schlegels, whom they had met the previous year in Germany, and Margaret resumes her acquaintance with Ruth, Henry's wife. Howards End is owned by Ruth, and is her beloved childhood home, inherited from her family. The two women grow close as Mrs. Wilcox's health declines and, unbeknownst to Margaret, Ruth bequeaths Howards End to her on her death bed. However, the Wilcoxes refuse to believe Ruth would leave the house to a relative stranger and burn her informally-written directions. Henry develops an attraction to Margaret, assisting her in finding a new home and eventually proposing marriage, which she accepts.
The Schlegels have befriended Leonard Bast, a self-improving young clerk who lives with Jacky, a woman of dubious origins. The sisters pass along advice from Henry to the effect that the insurance company Leonard works for is heading for bankruptcy. As a result Leonard quits and settles for a much lower-paying job, which is eventually eliminated so he has no employment. Helen is later enraged to learn Henry's advice was wrong; Leonard's first employer was perfectly sound but will not re-employ him.
Months later, Henry and Margaret host the wedding of his daughter Evie at hisShropshire estate. Margaret is shocked when Helen arrives with the impoverished Leonard and Jacky. Considering Henry responsible for their plight, Helen demands his help, but Jacky drunkenly exposes Henry as a former lover from years ago. Henry is ashamed to be revealed as anadulterer, but Margaret forgives him and agrees to send the Basts away. Helen, upset with Margaret's decision to marry a man she now loathes, leaves for Germany, but not before giving in to her attraction for Leonard and having sex while out boating. Fearing the Basts will be penniless, Helen instructs her brother Tibby to give them over £5000 of her own money, but Leonard returns the cheque uncashed out of pride, and because of his own feelings for Helen.
Margaret and Henry marry, arranging to use Howards End as storage for Margaret's and her siblings' belongings. After months of hearing from Helen only through postcards, Margaret grows concerned. Helen returns to England when Aunt Juley falls ill, but avoids seeing her family. Believing Helen is mentally unstable, Margaret lures her to Howards End to collect her belongings, arriving herself with Henry and a doctor, and finds Helen is pregnant. Insisting on returning to Germany to raise her baby alone, Helen asks to stay the night at Howards End but Henry adamantly refuses, leading to an argument with Margaret.
Leonard, still living unhappily in poverty with Jacky, has a dream about how he first met Helen. Discovering that he wants to see her again, he travels to Howards End, arriving to find a very pregnant Helen, Margaret, and Henry's brutish eldest son, Charles. Realising Leonard is the baby's father, Charles assaults him for "dishonouring" Helen, and a bookcase collapses on Leonard, who dies of a heart attack. Margaret tells Henry that she is leaving him to help Helen raise her baby, and Henry breaks down, telling her the police inquest will charge Charles with manslaughter.
A year later, Paul, Evie, and Charles's wife, Dolly, gather at Howards End. Henry and Margaret are still together, living with Helen and her young son. A visibly aged Henry tells the others that upon his death, Margaret will inherit Howards End and leave it to her nephew, but Margaret wants none of Henry's money, which will be split among his children. She overhears Dolly point out the irony of Margaret's inheriting the house, revealing Mrs. Wilcox's dying wish to leave it to her. Henry tells Margaret he did what he thought was right, but she says nothing.
Merchant-Ivory had difficulty securing funding forHowards End, whose budget stood at $8 million. This was considerably larger than those ofMaurice andA Room with a View, which led to trouble in raising capital in the UK and the United States.Orion Pictures, the film's distributor, was on the verge of bankruptcy and contributed only a small amount to the overall budget.[5]
A solution presented itself when Merchant Ivory sought funding through an intermediary in Japan, where the previous Forster adaptations, particularlyMaurice, had been very successful. Eventually Japanese companies including theSumitomo Corporation, Japan Satellite Broadcasting, and theImagica Corporation provided the bulk of the film's financing.
The distribution problem was solved when the heads ofOrion Classics departed the company forSony Pictures, creating the entirely new division ofSony Pictures Classics;Howards End was the first title it acquired and distributed.[6] In 2022, the division's co-founderMichael Barker recalled that, despite a highly lucrative offer for distribution rights fromHarvey Weinstein ofMiramax Films,Ismail Merchant was content choosing Sony's relatively smaller offer of $1 million instead.[7]
Anthony Hopkins accepted the part of Henry Wilcox after reading the script, passed to him by a young woman who was helping editSlaves of New York andThe Silence of the Lambs simultaneously in the same building.
Phoebe Nicholls,Joely Richardson,Miranda Richardson, andTilda Swinton were all considered for the part of Margaret Schlegel beforeEmma Thompson accepted the role. James Ivory was unfamiliar with Thompson before she was recommended to him bySimon Callow, who had a small cameo appearance as the music lecturer in the concert scene.[8]
Jemma Redgrave (Evie Wilcox), who played the daughter ofVanessa Redgrave's character (Ruth Wilcox), is her niece off-screen.Samuel West, who played Leonard Bast, is the son ofPrunella Scales, who played Aunt Juley.
According to James Ivory, although Vanessa Redgrave was his preferred choice for the role of Ruth Wilcox, her participation was uncertain until the last moment, because she was committed to other projects and it took some time to negotiate an acceptable salary.[8][9] When she did agree to play Mrs. Wilcox, she mistakenly believed she would be playing Margaret; only when she showed up on set to begin filming her scenes did the person in Hair and Makeup explain that she would be playing theelder Mrs. Wilcox.[8]
The score was composed byRichard Robbins, with elements of the score based onPercy Grainger's works "Bridal Lullaby" and "Mock Morris". The piano pieces were performed by English concert pianistMartin Jones. Orchestral works were conducted byHarry Rabinowitz and performed by theEnglish Chamber Orchestra.[10]
Also of note is a Tango composed and performed by the Teddy Peiro Tango Quintet,[11] and the music ofFrancis Poulenc, the Nocture #8. This theme is used while Ruth Wilcox walks at Howards End in the Evening Scene.[12]
Filming locations in London included a house inVictoria Square (which stood in for the Schlegel home),Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly,Simpson's-in-the-Strand restaurant, andSt Pancras railway station.[13] Areas around theAdmiralty Arch and in front of theRoyal Exchange in theCity of London were dressed to film traffic scenes of 1910 London. The scene where Margaret and Helen stroll with Henry in the evening was filmed onChiswick Mall inChiswick, London. The bank where Leonard encounters Helen is the lobby of theBaltic Exchange,30 St. Mary Axe, London. Soon after filming the building was bombed and destroyed by theIRA. TheRosewood London onHigh Holborn, which was then the Pearl Assurance Building, represented the Porphyrion Fire Insurance Company.[13]
The quadrangle of theFounder's Building atRoyal Holloway, University of London stood in for the hospital where Margaret visits Mrs. Wilcox. The "Howards End" house in the countryside is Peppard Cottage inRotherfield Peppard, Oxfordshire. At the time it was owned by an antique silver dealer with whom production designer Luciana Arrighi was acquainted. Thebluebell wood where Leonard strolls in his dream, as well as Dolly and Charles' house, were filmed nearby.[14] Henry's country house, Honiton, was actuallyBrampton Bryan Hall in Herefordshire, near the Welsh border.[15]Bewdley railway station on the historicSevern Valley Railway featured as Hilton station.[16]
Howards End had its premiere in New York City on 27 February 1992.[17] It was released on 13 March 1992 in the United States and Canada and on 1 May 1992 in the United Kingdom.
The film received widespread critical acclaim. On 5 June 2005,Roger Ebert included it on his list of "Great Movies".[18]Leonard Maltin awarded the film 4 stars out of 4, and called the film "Extraordinarily good on every level."[19]Dave Kehr ofThe Chicago Tribune gave a mixed review while reporting that the film "provides more than enough in the way of production values to keep its primary audience entertained. An audible gasp went up at a recent sneak preview over the film's re-creation of a Christmas-bedecked Harrod's of the turn of the century; the movie, like the store, knows how to put its merchandise on display."[20]
Review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes reports that 94% of 69 reviews are positive for the film, and the average rating is 8.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A superbly-mounted adaptation of E.M. Forster's tale of British class tension, with exceptional performances all round,Howards End ranks among the best of Merchant-Ivory's work."[21] OnMetacritic, the film holds a score of 88 out of 100, based on 11 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[22] American audiences surveyed byCinemaScore gave the film a grade "B" on a scale of A+ to F.[23]
In 2016, the film was selected for screening as part of the Cannes Classics section at the2016 Cannes Film Festival,[24] and was released theatrically after restoration on 26 August 2016.[25]
Howards End was placed on more top ten lists than any other film in 1992, edging outThe Player andUnforgiven. It was placed on 82 of the 106 film critics polled.[26]
The film grossed $26.3 million in the United States and Canada.[27] In the United Kingdom it grossed £4 million ($5.9 million).[28][29]
Columbia-TriStar released the film onLaserDisc on 2 June 1993.[52]The Criterion Collection releasedBlu-ray andDVD versions of the film on 3 November 2009, which have since gone out of print. The release was unfortunately subject to a bronzing issue which would discolour the disc bronze and render it unplayable, due to a pressing issue at the factory, though not every disc was subject to bronzing.[53]Cohen Film Collection released their own special edition Blu-ray on 6 December 2016.[54] Although this edition was labelled as remastered in 4k, it is a 1080p Blu Ray disc. However in 2018,Concord Video released a4K Ultra HD Region Free edition in Germany.
UK, Japan, US coproduction
