# Howards End (film)

Howards End is a 1992 historical romantic drama film directed by James Ivory, from a screenplay written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala based on the 1910 novel by E. M. Forster. Marking Merchant Ivory Productions' third adaptation of a Forster novel (following 1985's A Room with a View, and 1987's Maurice), it was the first film to be released by Sony 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 starred Emma Thompson, Anthony Hopkins, Helena Bonham Carter and Vanessa Redgrave, with James Wilby, Samuel West, Jemma Redgrave and Prunella 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 the 1992 Cannes Film Festival and won the 45th Anniversary Award. At the 65th Academy Awards, the film received a leading nine nominations including for Best Picture, and won three: Best Actress (for Thompson), Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published, and Best Art Direction. At the 46th British Academy Film Awards, it garnered a leading eleven nominations, winning two awards; Best Film and Best Actress (for Thompson).

## Plot

In Edwardian 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-German bourgeoisie, 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, when the Wilcoxes take a flat across the street from the Schlegels, Margaret resumes her acquaintance with Ruth, Henry's wife. Ruth is descended from English yeoman stock, and it is through her family that the Wilcoxes have come to own her beloved Howards End. The two women grow close as Mrs. Wilcox's health declines and, unbeknownst to Margaret, a dying Ruth bequeaths Howards End to her. However, the Wilcoxes refuse to believe Ruth would leave the house to a relative stranger and burn her written bequest. Henry develops an attraction to Margaret, assisting her in finding a new home and eventually proposing marriage, which she accepts.
The Schlegels befriend 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. Leonard quits, settling for a much lower-paying job which is eventually downsized altogether. Helen is later enraged to learn Henry's advice was wrong; Leonard's first employer was perfectly sound but will not reemploy him.
Months later, Henry and Margaret host the wedding of his daughter Evie at his Shropshire estate. Margaret is shocked when Helen arrives with an 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 an adulterer, but Margaret forgives him and agrees to send the Basts away. Helen, upset with Margaret's decision to marry a man she 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, and 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 realizes Helen is pregnant. Insisting on returning to Germany to raise her baby alone, Helen asks to stay the night at Howards End but Henry refuses, leading to an argument with Margaret.
Leonard, still living unhappily in poverty with Jacky, has a dream about how he first met Helen. Realizing 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. Realizing Leonard is the baby's father, Charles assaults him for "dishonoring" 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. Henry tells the others that upon his death, Margaret will inherit Howards End and leave it to her nephew, though Margaret wants none of Henry's money, which will be split among his children. She overhears Dolly point out the irony of Margaret 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.

## Cast

* Emma Thompson as Margaret Schlegel
* Anthony Hopkins as Henry Wilcox
* Helena Bonham Carter as Helen Schlegel
* Vanessa Redgrave as Ruth Wilcox
* James Wilby as Charles Wilcox
* Jemma Redgrave as Evie Wilcox
* Samuel West as Leonard Bast
* Joseph Bennett as Paul Wilcox
* Prunella Scales as Aunt Juley
* Adrian Ross Magenty as Tibby Schlegel
* Jo Kendall as Annie
* Susie Lindeman as Dolly Wilcox
* Nicola Duffett as Jacky Bast
* Mark Payton as Percy Cahill
* Barbara Hicks as Miss Avery

## Production
### Financing

Merchant-Ivory had difficulty securing funding for Howards End, whose budget stood at $8 million. This was considerably larger than those of Maurice and A 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.
A solution presented itself when Merchant Ivory sought funding through an intermediary in Japan, where the previous Forster adaptations, particularly Maurice, had been very successful. Eventually Japanese companies including the Sumitomo Corporation, Japan Satellite Broadcasting, and the Imagica Corporation provided the bulk of the film's financing.
The distribution problem was solved when the heads of Orion Classics departed the company for Sony Pictures, creating the entirely new division of Sony Pictures Classics; Howards End was the first title it acquired and distributed. In 2022, the division's co-founder Michael Barker recalled that, despite a highly lucrative offer for distribution rights from Harvey Weinstein of Miramax Films, Ismail Merchant was content choosing Sony's relatively smaller offer of $1 million instead.

### Casting

Anthony Hopkins accepted the part of Henry Wilcox after reading the script, passed to him by a young woman who was helping edit Slaves of New York and The Silence of the Lambs simultaneously in the same building.
Phoebe Nicholls, Joely Richardson, Miranda Richardson, and Tilda Swinton were all considered for the part of Margaret Schlegel before Emma Thompson accepted the role. James Ivory was unfamiliar with Thompson before she was recommended to him by Simon Callow, who had a small cameo appearance as the music lecturer in the concert scene.
Jemma Redgrave (Evie Wilcox), who played the daughter of Vanessa Redgrave's character (Ruth Wilcox), is her niece off-screen. Samuel West, who played Leonard Bast, is the son of Prunella 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. 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 the elder Mrs. Wilcox.

### Music

The score was composed by Richard Robbins, with elements of the score based on Percy Grainger's works "Bridal Lullaby" and "Mock Morris". The piano pieces were performed by English concert pianist Martin Jones. Orchestral works were conducted by Harry Rabinowitz and performed by the English Chamber Orchestra.
* "Bridal Lullaby" by Percy Grainger Courtesy of Bardie Edition (used for the main title and Margaret's Arrival At Howards End)
* "Mock Morris" by Percy Grainger Courtesy of Schott & Co. (End Credits theme)
* 5th Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven (uncredited; featured in the lecture scene 'Music and Meaning')
Also of note is a Tango composed and performed by the Teddy Peiro Tango Quintet, and the music of Francis Poulenc, the Nocture #8. This theme is used while Ruth Wilcox walks at Howards End in the Evening Scene.

### Filming locations

Filming locations in London included a house in Victoria Square (which stood in for the Schlegel home), Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly, Simpson's-in-the-Strand restaurant, and St Pancras railway station. Areas around the Admiralty Arch and in front of the Royal Exchange in the City 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 on Chiswick Mall in Chiswick, London. The bank where Leonard encounters Helen is the lobby of the Baltic Exchange, 30 St. Mary Axe, London. Soon after filming the building was bombed and destroyed by the IRA. The Rosewood London on High Holborn, which was then the Pearl Assurance Building, represented the Porphyrion Fire Insurance Company.
The quadrangle of the Founder's Building at Royal Holloway, University of London stood in for the hospital where Margaret visits Mrs. Wilcox. The "Howards End" house in the countryside is Peppard Cottage in Rotherfield Peppard, Oxfordshire. At the time it was owned by an antique silver dealer with whom production designer Luciana Arrighi was acquainted. The bluebell wood where Leonard strolls in his dream, as well as Dolly and Charles' house, were filmed nearby. Henry's country house, Honiton, was actually Brampton Bryan Hall in Herefordshire, near the Welsh border. Bewdley railway station on the historic Severn Valley Railway featured as Hilton station.

## Release

Howards End had its premiere in New York City on 27 February 1992. It was released on 13 March 1992 in the United States and Canada and on 1 May 1992 in the United Kingdom.

### Critical reception

The film received widespread critical acclaim. On 5 June 2005, Roger Ebert included it on his list of "Great Movies". Leonard Maltin awarded the film 4 stars out of 4, and called the film "Extraordinarily good on every level." Dave Kehr of The 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."
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 94% of 65 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." On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 89 out of 100, based on 10 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". American audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B" on a scale of A+ to F.
In 2016, the film was selected for screening as part of the Cannes Classics section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, and was released theatrically after restoration on 26 August 2016.
Howards End was placed on more top ten lists than any other film in 1992, edging out The Player and Unforgiven. It was placed on 82 of the 106 film critics polled.

### Box office

The film grossed $26.3 million in the United States and Canada. In the United Kingdom it grossed £4 million ($5.9 million).

### Awards and nominations

| Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
| Academy Awards | Best Picture | Ismail Merchant | Nominated |
| Academy Awards | Best Director | James Ivory | Nominated |
| Academy Awards | Best Actress | Emma Thompson | Won |
| Academy Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Vanessa Redgrave | Nominated |
| Academy Awards | Best Screenplay – Based on Material Previously Produced or Published | Ruth Prawer Jhabvala | Won |
| Academy Awards | Best Art Direction | Art Direction: Luciana Arrighi; Set Decoration: Ian Whittaker | Won |
| Academy Awards | Best Cinematography | Tony Pierce-Roberts | Nominated |
| Academy Awards | Best Costume Design | Jenny Beavan and John Bright | Nominated |
| Academy Awards | Best Original Score | Richard Robbins | Nominated |
| American Society of Cinematographers Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Theatrical Releases | Tony Pierce-Roberts | Nominated |
| Argentine Film Critics Association Awards | Best Foreign Film | James Ivory | Nominated |
| Bodil Awards | Best European Film | James Ivory | Won |
| Boston Society of Film Critics Awards | Best Actress | Emma Thompson | Won |
| British Academy Film Awards | Best Film | Ismail Merchant and James Ivory | Won |
| British Academy Film Awards | Best Direction | James Ivory | Nominated |
| British Academy Film Awards | Best Actress in a Leading Role | Emma Thompson | Won |
| British Academy Film Awards | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Samuel West | Nominated |
| British Academy Film Awards | Best Actress in a Supporting Role | Helena Bonham Carter | Nominated |
| British Academy Film Awards | Best Adapted Screenplay | Ruth Prawer Jhabvala | Nominated |
| British Academy Film Awards | Best Cinematography | Tony Pierce-Roberts | Nominated |
| British Academy Film Awards | Best Costume Design | Jenny Beavan and John Bright | Nominated |
| British Academy Film Awards | Best Editing | Andrew Marcus | Nominated |
| British Academy Film Awards | Best Make Up Artist | Christine Beveridge | Nominated |
| British Academy Film Awards | Best Production Design | Luciana Arrighi | Nominated |
| British Society of Cinematographers Awards | Best Cinematography in a Theatrical Feature Film | Tony Pierce-Roberts | Won |
| Camerimage | Golden Frog | Tony Pierce-Roberts | Nominated |
| Cannes Film Festival | Palme d'Or | James Ivory | Nominated |
| Cannes Film Festival | 45th Anniversary Prize | James Ivory | Won |
| César Awards | Best Foreign Film | James Ivory | Nominated |
| Chicago Film Critics Association Awards | Best Actress | Emma Thompson | Won |
| Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards | Best Film | Best Film | Nominated |
| Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards | Best Actress | Emma Thompson | Won |
| David di Donatello Awards | Best Foreign Film | James Ivory | Nominated |
| David di Donatello Awards | Best Foreign Actor | Anthony Hopkins | Nominated |
| David di Donatello Awards | Best Foreign Actress | Emma Thompson | Won |
| Directors Guild of America Awards | Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures | James Ivory | Nominated |
| Evening Standard British Film Awards | Best Film | James Ivory | Won |
| Evening Standard British Film Awards | Best Actress | Emma Thompson (also for Peter's Friends) | Won |
| Golden Camera | Best International Actress | Vanessa Redgrave (also for Young Catherine) | Won |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Motion Picture – Drama | Best Motion Picture – Drama | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama | Emma Thompson | Won |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Director – Motion Picture | James Ivory | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Screenplay – Motion Picture | Ruth Prawer Jhabvala | Nominated |
| Independent Spirit Awards | Best Foreign Film | Best Foreign Film | Nominated |
| Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Actress | Emma Thompson | Won |
| London Film Critics Circle Awards | British Film of the Year | British Film of the Year | Won |
| London Film Critics Circle Awards | British Actress of the Year | Emma Thompson | Won |
| Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards | Best Actress | Emma Thompson | Won |
| Nastro d'Argento | Best Foreign Director | James Ivory | Nominated |
| Nastro d'Argento | Best Production Design | Luciana Arrighi | Won |
| National Board of Review Awards | Best Film | Best Film | Won |
| National Board of Review Awards | Top Ten Films | Top Ten Films | Won |
| National Board of Review Awards | Best Director | James Ivory | Won |
| National Board of Review Awards | Best Actress | Emma Thompson | Won |
| National Society of Film Critics Awards | Best Actress | Emma Thompson | Won |
| National Society of Film Critics Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Vanessa Redgrave | 3rd Place |
| New York Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Film | Best Film | Runner-up |
| New York Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Director | James Ivory | Runner-up |
| New York Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Actress | Emma Thompson | Won |
| Political Film Society Awards | Democracy | Democracy | Nominated |
| Producers Guild of America Awards | Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures | Ismail Merchant | Nominated |
| Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards | Best Picture | Best Picture | Won |
| Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards | Best Actress | Emma Thompson | Won |
| USC Scripter Awards | USC Scripter Awards | Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (screenwriter); E.M. Forster (author) | Nominated |
| Writers Guild of America Awards | Best Screenplay – Based on Material Previously Produced or Published | Ruth Prawer Jhabvala | Nominated |

### Home media

Columbia-TriStar released the film on LaserDisc on 2 June 1993. The Criterion Collection released Blu-ray and DVD 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 discolor the disc bronze and render it unplayable, due to a pressing issue at the factory, though not every disc was subject to bronzing. Cohen Film Collection released their own special edition Blu-ray on 6 December 2016. Although this edition was labelled as remastered in 4k, it is a 1080p Blu Ray disc. However in 2018, Concord Video released a 4K Ultra HD Region Free edition in Germany.