“Only connect...” This is the theme running through E.M. Forster’s celebrated 1910 novel Howard’s End, in which classes and cultures clash while seeking said connection when the solidly middle-class Schlegel sisters cross paths with the aristocratic Wilcoxes, and the deprived Basts; three families that couldn’t be more different in attitude or outlook.
Some of Britain’s finest inhabit the memorable characters that came forth from Forster’s prose and Prawer Jhabvala’s eloquent screenplay- Paula Fleri-Soler
Forster’s book was adapted to the big screen in 1992 by Merchant Ivory Productions, the immensely successful, pluri-award-winning independent film-making partnership made up of Indian-born producer Ismail Merchant and American director James Ivory, more often than not in collaboration with screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.
The Merchant Ivory trademarks consisted of elegant literary adaptations which attracted top international casts and technical crew, all brought together by Merchant’s financial nous, Ivory’s creative eye and Prawer Jhabvala’s elegant pen.
Howard’s End was the third of Forster’s novels that Merchant Ivory adapted for film (and it is possibly the most acclaimed film in their 50-odd years of film-making. It was certainly one of the most successful films of the 1990s and 20 years after its release, it has lost none of its charm and appeal.
When Helen Schlegel (Helena Bonham Carter) impulsively gets engaged to Paul Wilcox, only to break it off the next morning, she sets in motion a series of events that brings the three families together.
Despite the awkwardness of the very short engagement, Helen’s sister Margaret (Emma Thompson) befriends Paul’s mother Ruth (Vanessa Redgrave) with whom she makes an immediate, cherished connection.
Their friendship is short-lived, however – sadly, Mrs Wilcox dies and sometime later, Margaret becomes engaged to Mr Wilcox (Anthony Hopkins).
This causes further unease: Mr Wilcox’s elder son and daughter look down on the Schlegels and disapprove of the relationship, while Helen’s growing friendship with lowly insurance clerk Leonard Bast uncovers some very uncomfortable secrets.
It is redundant to say that the team behind the film captured the period in immaculate detail from the London townhouses and bustling streets, to the quaint countryside location of Howard’s End, to the interior design of Luciana Arrighi, the elegant and refined costumes of Jenny Beavan and John Bright and the lush cinematography of Tony Pierce Roberts.
Howard’s End also features an impeccable cast; some of Britain’s finest inhabiting the memorable characters that came forth from Forster’s prose and Prawer Jhabvala’s eloquent screenplay.
Emma Thompson leads the pack, with her breakout, Oscar-winning performance as Margaret Schlegel – over-expressive, bubbly, loud, eccentric – yet warm, tender, highly intelligent and sensitive.
Thompson gets to the heart of this contradictory woman, expertly walking the line between Margaret’s modern outlook on life and the duties expected of her as wife to Anthony Hopkins’ Henry Wilcox – a proud, emotionally distant man whose weaknesses Hopkins projects as strongly as his strengths.
In one of her best performances, Bonham Carter embodies Helen’s fierce radical, while Samuel West is sensitive as Leonard Bast, a clerk desperately trying to better himself culturally and socially.
The titular location, protected and celebrated by its beloved owner Ruth Wilcox, played with a quiet elegance by Redgrave, plays an equally important part.
It is an ensemble of characters that are flawed, complex and passionate as they negotiate the social mores of Edwardian England, a time when change is coming and is inevitable.
The film made its debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 1992, winning the 45th anniversary prize.
As it opened in cinemas across the US, the UK, and worldwide its popularity soared.
Summing up the exceptional partnership behind the film, the New York Times stated: “it’s time for legislation decreeing that no one be allowed to make a screen adaptation of a novel of any quality whatsoever if Ismail Merchant, James Ivory and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala are available, and if they elect to do the job.”
Needless to say, awards season was fruitful, culminating in nine Academy Award nominations of which it won three, for Emma Thompson, Luciana Arrighi and for Prawer Jhabvala, cementing the film’s greatest achievement, that of connecting solidly with critics and audiences.