A Room with a View- 1985

Helena Bonham-Carter as Lucy Honeychurch in A Room with a View

Do you know what the problem with movies on TV is? Other than the stupid commercial breaks of course. The problem is that you think you have seen a movie and you haven't really seen it at all!

Helena Bonham-Carter and Julian Sands in A Room with a View

I thought I had seen A Room with a View. How much of it I had actually seen I really don't know. I saw the parts with the pensione. I saw the part with the fight in the square and Lucy fainting. I saw the hilarious part where the two young men are joined in their naked bathing by the naked vicar. I had definitely seen that part, even though it was on TV (must have been on City TV, the notoriously liberal Toronto station). But I hadn't really SEEN it.

A Room with a View

Well, that was remedied this week. I have now truly seen A Room with a View and I think it is wonderful. So wonderful that I now absolutely have to read the novel. For me, I think that is the ultimate compliment for an adaptation of a classic novel. In this case 26 years have not aged this production at all. No one has eighties hair and it is not done on video, but shot on location in gorgeous film. The only thing that jars is how young the actors look. Judi Dench and Maggie Smith are in their prime in this film. They are middle aged and they are gorgeous! Helena Bonham-Carter is nearing that stage now in real life, but in this film she is the fresh faced young Lucy Honeychurch who I couldn't bear to see engage herself to the poncy Cecil Vyse played by that chameleon Daniel Day-Lewis!

A Room with a View

Well I will leave it at that, other than to say that if you haven't truly SEEN this film either, or if it has been a while since you have seen it, I highly recommend it as an alternative to the trash on TV these days. As an aside, I watched the premier of Pan Am this week on television and I have to say, I adored it. Sunday nights are now looking brighter while I wait for Downton Abbey to return for season 2!

P.S. I watched this film in it's entirety here on YouTube this week. I have seen other productions on YouTube but they are broken into 10 minute segments. This was the whole thing! Uncut! Which is how it should be watched.

P.P.S. I saw the ITV television adaptation of the novel when it aired in 2007. Andrew Davies did a very nice job as usual and I really enjoyed it. However I LOVED the older film version. Anyone else seen both? What did you think?

Impromptu-An Adorable Little Film About Chopin!

Impromptu-Judy Davis, Hugh Grant, Mandy Patinkin

If you are looking for a serious biopic about Frederic Chopin, do NOT watch this! If you want a fun period piece with some wonderful music and a good dollop of comedy, this is your film.

This is one of my favourite films, which probably says a lot about me. This film just makes me laugh. And it transports me with  the amazing music of Frederic Chopin.

Impromptu Cast-Hugh Grant, Mandy Patinkin, Julian Sands, Judy Davis and Bernadette Peters

This 1991 gem centers on the artistic community in Paris in the 19th century in a very lighthearted way as it follows the cross-dressing writer George Sand (played magnificently by Judy Davis) as she energetically pursues the consumptive Chopin (a rather too healthy looking Hugh Grant). It also has Bernadette Peters as Marie d'Agoult, love interest of Franz Liszt (a very sexy Julian Sands) and Mandy Patinkin  as Alfred de Musset, George Sand's jilted ex-lover. Emma Thompson however, steals the show as the loopy Duchess D'Antan, intent on collecting the greatest artists of the age around her.

Emma Thompson as the Duchess D'Antan in Impromptu

There is a lot of wonderful music and passionate commentary on art, love and life but it is mixed in with so much comedy that this is a very singular film. A real treat for those who don't like their historical biopics dry. It was filmed entirely in France, so the visuals are quite equal to Chopin's music.

Julian Sands as Liszt and Hugh Grant as Chopin-The men are prettier than the women!

I had this one in my migraine movie post below, but it is actually better categorized as a rainy-day film or a recovering-from-a-cold film. It will lift your spirits but it may not be calm enough for a headache night! Enjoy!