A Room With A View (HD-DVD and Blu-ray)
Picture:
A- Sound: B+ Extras: B Film: A-
James
Ivory’s 1985 A Room With a View
embodies E.M. Forster’s novel about the difficult decisions of a young
Englishwoman and her entrance into adult-life and choosing the man she desires
the most. Of course this takes place
during the early 1900’s in a time when that decision could inevitably change
your life in very important ways, including social class. Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham Carter)
portrays the indecisive young woman who in engaged to Cecil (Daniel Day Lewis),
who seems like a good match and would give her a good life, but she spends some
time in Florence, Italy where she meets George Emerson (Julian Sands) who
catches her attention and begins to make her question her own heart.
“He's the sort who can't
know anyone intimately, least of all a woman. He doesn't know what a woman is.
He wants you for a possession, something to look at, like a painting or an
ivory box. Something to own and to display. He doesn't want you to be real, and
to think and to live. He doesn't love you. But I love you. I want you to have
your own thoughts and ideas and feelings, even when I hold you in my arms. It's
our last chance...”
This is
one of the most memorable lines in the entire film as they are uttered
passionately from a desperate George has he pleas to Lucy for a chance to make
things work. In many respects this film
takes what could perhaps be a short film and turns it into a lengthy emotional
rollercoaster as we become most involved with the characters. Perhaps what makes this film also work well
is that it teeters on a comedy and a drama and this helps keep the material
fresh. Day-Lewis is brilliant in his
role and this reminds me of his amazing work that he would provide a few years
later for Martin Scorsese in The Age of
Innocence, another great period piece.
As if his acting isn’t good enough, so is Carter’s and Sands, but the
ensemble cast also includes other amazing British actors like Maggie Smith and
Judi Dench.
When I
first saw this film years ago I wasn’t really expecting to like it, in fact I
almost assumed that I wouldn’t. I was
familiar with some of the other Merchant/Ivory productions and was relatively
found of Howard’s End and Remains of the Day, which both feature
the amazing Anthony Hopkins and Helena Bonham Carter would also star in Howard’s End, but I was absolutely
swept away by A Room With a View and
it definitely lived up to much of the critical acclaim that followed it. Oddly enough it wasn’t really until the last
quarter of the film that I really became engrossed with the material and
appreciated the brilliance behind the script and the development of the
characters and how the novel came to life in a very fresh way, but that was no
doubt attributed by the fine acting and the execution in the high quality
production.
When the
2-Disc Special Edition DVD of this film was finally released by Warner I was
highly impressed with several things, the first thing that struck me was the remixed
and remastered 5.1 soundtrack, which was and still is one of the best mixes for
a film of this type available, by that I mean a dialogue-driven film of this
age. I was actually stunned by just how
three-dimensional the traveling dialogue seemed. The anamorphic 1.66 X 1 transfer of the film
was good too, although a tad on the softer side, but relatively pristine in
condition. Although the transfer appears
more like a 1.78 X 1 image and it worked fine for the time being.
Now let’s
jump ahead to the two High-Definition releases of this film, which I must say
this is a surprise title to see both formats this early on, but I am quite
happy given that it’s a favorite of mine.
Both the Blu-ray and the HD-DVD present the film in 1080p with the 1.66
X 1 aspect ratio looking more like 1.78 X 1 as it was on the DVD. However, both HD looks jump off the screen
with fantastic color depth, fidelity, and an impressive amount of detail and
definition. Needless to say they make
the DVD obsolete for sure. The softness
that was evident on the DVD is no longer an issue and while the transfer does
bear some grain, it isn’t overly polished up in order to sharpen the image,
which is a good thing because this preserves the films intentions. It should be noted that the film does have a
rather medium palette of colors, which gives the film it’s early 20th
Century look with muted colors and more medium tones overall, but both HD discs
perform well in still delivering a vibrancy to these tones, although the HD-DVD
tends to be a bit sharper, while the Blu-ray seems more color-rich. I honestly would have a hard time choosing a
winner between the two, both are excellent, so it’s really dependant on which
player you own, or like me I have the LG player that handles both formats.
The same
thing goes for the audio, which after hearing how good the DVD was, I had a
hard time envisioning what these two discs could offer, but I am nearly
speechless in what an amazing job the DTS HD High Resolution 5.1 mixes could be
that is offered on both discs. I
attempted to go back and forth to see if there were any subtle differences
between the two formats and it’s nearly impossible to say, although if anything
the Blu-ray might be a bit more compressed, but it’s so miniscule that it
really isn’t a factor. I can only hope
that more period pieces and other films that are dialogue-heavy will arrive on
the HD formats this good, it will certainly bring a whole new level of
appreciation into the home viewing experience.
The
extras are also identical on both discs and the same as the features that were
present on the 2-Disc Special Edition DVD, which provides a commentary track by
actor Simon Callow, Director James Ivory, producer Ismail Merchant, and
cinematographer Tony Pierce-Roberts, the rest of the supplements are more like
promotional pieces, photo galleries, a special on Merchant/Ivory and a section
on E.M. Forster, all of which are great additions to the film and give a
further glimpse into the production of this great film.
Hopefully
we will see Howard’s End and Remains of the Day on an HD disc soon
after the success of this film on HD-DVD and Blu-ray!
- Nate Goss
