Where Angels Fear to Tread

Plot synopsis:
Recently widowed and anxious to escape the clutches of her oppressively meddlesome in-laws, free-spirited Lilia Herriton (Helen Mirren) travels to the hillside Tuscan town of Monteriano with her young friend Caroline Abbott (Helena Bonham Carter). There she falls in love with both the countryside and Gino Carella, a handsome young villager, and she decides to stay. Appalled by her behaviour and concerned about the future of her daughter-in-law, Irma, her strait-laced mother-in-law dispatches her son Philip (Rupert Graves) to Italy to persuade her to return home, but by the time he arrives Lilia and Gino have wed. He and Caroline return home, unable to forgive themselves for not putting an end to what they see as a clearly unsuitable marriage.
Lilia is startled to discover her desire for independence is at odds with Gino's need to be the unquestioned head of the household, and she is shocked when he becomes physically abusive to clarify his position. Their relationship becomes less volatile when Lilia becomes pregnant, but she dies in childbirth, leaving her grieving husband with an infant son to raise with the help of his ageing mother.
When word of Lilia's death reaches England, Caroline decides to return to Italy to save the boy from what she believes will surely be a difficult life. Not wanting to be outdone, or considered any less moral or less concerned than Caroline for the child's welfare, Lilia's mother-in-law sends Philip and his priggish spinster sister Harriet (Judy Davis) to Monteriano to obtain custody of the infant and bring him back to Sawston, where he can receive what she perceives to be a proper upbringing and education. Everything about the journey – especially the heat, the uncomfortable accommodations, and her difficulty communicating with the locals – distresses repressed and xenophobic Harriet, but Philip and Caroline both begin to find themselves attracted to everything Tuscan that had appealed to Lilia. Philip and Caroline also begin to sympathise with Gino and his loving relationship with his son, but though Philip says he 'understands everyone', he vacilates to even broach the subject of getting custody of the boy to Gino. Philip can't seem to 'settle it, and do the right thing', as Caroline reminds him. Harriet is left to take matters into her own hands and makes a decision that leads to tragic consequences.
In contrast to the novel, the film adds a positive ending to the changes in the story, by hinting that love between Caroline and Philip may be possible.

Tags: romantic

Review:
Where Angels Fear To Tread, a fine novel in its own right, is transferred to the big screen with wit and a painter's eye by the masterful Charles Sturridge.
Against a backdrop rich in Edwardian England's own brand of stuffy propriety, we watch cultures and mores clash, with poignant, and occasionally hilarious results.
Judy Davis delivers one of my top ten moments on film, a snit of epic self-righteousness, in a memorable scene at the opera.
The beauty of the film lies in its fluid and compassionate depiction of the wrongheadedness and confusion which ensue when foreign travelers pack their own narrow values next to the toothpaste, granting themselves permission to brandish them in the face of every long-suffering local along the way.
Luckily for us, the film is populated by a believable group of finely drawn characters, played by actors who simply could not be better cast..
~*Another Forster Classic Brought to Film*~.
Charles Sturridge's adaption of E.M. Forster's classic novel is well in line with such other greats as "Howards End", "A Room With a View", and "A Passage To India".
As with all of Forster's work, "Where Angels Fear to Tread" treats the topic of Edwardian British society with poignancy and humour.Cultures clash when Philip Herriton is forced by his mother to retrieve the only child of his dead sister-in-law, Lilia, from its Italian father.
The baby represents both the English and Italian way of life, and the ensuing struggle over it is an analysis of just how futile our own nativist prejudices can be.Such a sensitive topic is dealt with by a charming cast.
Rupert Graves is perfect as a man transformed by his horrific experiences; Helen Mirren is both laughable and lamentable as the tragically flighty Lilia; Helena Bonham-Carter is the soul of goodness, and Judy Davis (a Forster veteran from "A Passage to India") provides comic relief as stuffy Harriet.
These fine performances are matched with a beautiful score by Rachel Portman and even more beautiful Italian vistas courtesy of Mr. Sturridge.Stimulating and provocative, I highly recommend this film to those interested in either Forsters' work or the imperialistic inclinations of the British circa 1900..
It is strange how an author can suddenly become flavour of the decade in the cinema after his or her works have been neglected by film-makers for years.
Before the 1990s there had only ever been one feature film based on a Jane Austen novel, the 1940 version of "Pride and Prejudice".
Since 1995 there have been filmed versions of "Sense and Sensibility", "Mansfield Park", "Persuasion", two of "Emma" and, most recently, another "Pride and Prejudice".Before the great Austen cycle, there was a great E.M. Forster cycle.
The first film ever based on one of his novels was David Lean's "A Passage to India" in 1984.
Over the next eight years, filmed versions were made of four of his other five novels.
Of those four films, three ("A Room with a View", "Maurice" and "Howard's End") were made by the Merchant Ivory partnership.
"Where Angels Fear to Tread" was the one exception.Like "A Room with a View", the film deals with the British abroad in Italy.
Lilia Herriton, a well-to-do English widow on holiday, meets, falls in love with and marries Gino, a handsome young Italian many years her junior.
Her late husband's family are aghast at this development, partly because Gino is a foreigner and partly because they regard him as their social inferior.
When Lilia dies in childbirth her brother-in-law Philip and his sister Harriet decide to go to Italy to "rescue" the child and return it to England.
Harriet therefore decides to kidnap the boy, with disastrous results.Most of Forster's novels deal with characters who either live abroad or who find themselves in circumstances outside their normal social environment, and it has been suggested that this theme of the "stranger in a strange land" is a reflection of his own situation as a homosexual forced by the laws and conventions of his times to hide his true nature.
The English characters in "Where Angels Fear to Tread" react to their situation in a foreign land in different ways.
Harriet, by contrast, is an obstinately prejudiced Englishwoman, who hates being abroad and behaves in the most arrogant, high-handed manner towards the Italians.
She is at first enchanted by Italy, but this might be because she is treated there like a rich signora rather than like a poor relation.
Her later difficulties in her marriage may be partly due to her inability to adapt to the differences between Italian and English customs.Most of the leading actors had already appeared in other Forster adaptations- Judy Davis in "A Passage to India", Rupert Graves in "A Room with a View" and "Maurice" and Helena Bonham Carter in "A Room with a View".
The best performance, however, in my view was from Helen Mirren as Lilia.
She was possibly slightly too old for the role, but nevertheless brought to it a touching pathos and tragic dignity.Unfortunately, the film as a whole is a disappointment.
There is too much that is never explained, especially why the Herritons are so obsessed by the idea of bringing Lilia's baby back to England when neither she nor the child is a blood-relation of theirs.
Even more mysterious is the parallel mission to Italy undertaken by Lilia's friend Caroline Abbott.
Another mystery occurs at the end of the film after Harriet's disastrous kidnapping attempt has resulted in the child's death.
We learn that Gino has lied at the inquest in order to save them from the authorities, but we never learn exactly what he has said or why he should have behaved in such a generous way towards two people whom he has every reason to hate.The other acting contributions, apart from Mirren's, are not distinguished.
Helena Bonham Carter, who was good in "A Room with a View" and even better in "Howard's End" is wasted here as Caroline.
Rupert Graves's Philip is weak, and Giovanni Guidelli's Gino is too much the eccentric foreigner.
Although Forster clearly intended some satire at the expense of the snobbery and arrogance of the British abroad, Judy Davis plays Harriet as too unsympathetic, a sour-faced harridan who comes across as a pantomime villainess rather than a credible individual.The film is made in a similar "heritage" style to the other Forster adaptations, with great attention to period detail and some loving photography of the Italian landscapes, but is nevertheless dull and lifeless.
Like another reviewer I felt that this book might have worked better as a film if the Merchant Ivory team, who succeeded so well with "A Room with a View" and "Howard's End" had made it.
Charles Sturridge's film just seems like an inferior imitation of their work, a piece of fake Ivory.
Graves and Bonham-Carter played brother and sister in 'A Room With A View' and their chemistry carries over into this film quite well.
All the way around, a great film..
The first time I watched this movie I kept saying to myself..
M. Forster novel to be written, and it is certainly not the best to be made into a movie, but it is well worth watching for another superb performance by Helena Bonham Cater and her supporting cast.Rupert Graves (V for Vendetta) is excellent as an Edwardian aristocrat who becomes enchanted with the Italian way of living.
Judy Davis (Marie Antoinette , The Beak-up) provides the comic relief as a proper lady who cannot abide a half-English child being brought up by Italians.It all makes for a good movie with fine performances..
Such is the credo of a trio of Edwardian English gentry who travel to Italy to save a new born baby from the clutches of its Italian father upon the death of its English mother.
"Where Angels Fear to Tread" is an excellent film in need of a story.
A well crafted, well acted, well directed period piece (circa 1906), the film peers deeply into the marginally interesting group of characters, their relationships and idiosyncrasies, and their difficulty bridging the English/Italian culture gap.
Unfortunately this tedious work only seems to get interesting about the time credits roll and one is left wondering what happened to the on screen "To Be Continued" declaration.
I believe I've seen every film adaptation of Forster's work, and I have to say that this is probably the worst of the lot.
It has none of the charm of "A Room With a View", and none of the poignancy of "Howards End".
The character of Gino is underdeveloped, which makes the way some characters come to feel about him ring utterly false.Forster was a homosexual, an Italophile, and scornful of Edwardian British mores and (perceived) hypocrisy.
I have no problem with any of those things, but in this, his first novel, it's as if his main intention was to telegraph these things to the audience, and he sets his characters up to that end, but it's never convincing as the natural actions of real humans.
A movie about few British characters and some Italian drops.
Although Charles Sturridge's movie is based on the classical novel by E.M. Forster, one does not have to be knowledgeable about the literature of the period in order to like the film.
Lilia is an Englishwoman who appears to be absolutely torn apart and, therefore, quite unhappy with her family and disappointed with her misalliance marriage with Gino Carella (Guido Guinelli).
Another very interesting performance is offered by Helena Bonham Carter who, in 1991 when the role was given to her, was already acquainted with the genre after Ivory's ROOM WITH A VIEW.
Among the female roles, I would also make a note about Judy Davis (Harriet) who crafts well the depiction of coldness and reluctance to the foreign culture.As for the male roles, Rupert Graves as Phillip, a cold English gentleman, and Guido Guinelli as Gino, a spontaneous Italian 'macho', are outstanding.
In their characters, or more to say, in the contrasts between their natures, culture clash is convincingly depicted.
Although Phillip feels uncomfortable with this Italian authenticity at first, these features appear to take over in his life too.
Consider certain points of the film where the two are particularly memorable, just to mention the opera scene, the evening at the cistern, or Gino's witty games with his sweet baby, the unfortunate victim of jealousy.The locations of the film together with artistic features galore are worth high praise, too.
Who hasn't seen many great films made in this pearl of Italy.
In WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD, the views of medieval Siena and San Gimignano with the fabulous music by Rachel Portman make you fall in love with Italy in the similar manner as it happens with the characters.
A place to fall in love with!Summing it up, the artistic features make the film unique.
All I want to say is: WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD is no masterpiece but a nice movie where you will find something for yourself.
The delightful scenes, lovely Tuscan views, great performances to admire with a glass of Chianti in your hand.
Action and inaction, and their consequences, are the themes of this film.
Lilia takes action by marrying Gino.
Lilia has a child with Gino, and dies in childbirth.
He is distraught, but as Philip says (approvingly) later on, Gino is comfortable with his contradictions, and he appears well over her soon after the funeral, planning a new bride to look after his son for him.
Six months later, Philip, his sister Harriet, and Lilia's friend Caroline are all in Italy to take the child away.
Caroline sees Gino being so loving towards his child, and faints.
She is besotted: she sums up the key dilemma of the whole film when she says to Philip that either the child will be brought up badly but with love in Italy, or well but without love in England, and that he, Philip, must choose which he thinks should happen and make it happen.
That said, Caroline blames herself for her own inaction when Lilia married Gino.
Philip's ineffectual nature is at the heart of the film: he is acting for his mother when he comes over to Italy, and he needs to actually decide what he thinks is right.
Harriet steals the child when Philip fails to take action quickly, and Philip does not stop the carriage when he could have stopped it.
He decides – by not deciding – to go along with Harriet and take the child, even though he has not decided that this is the right thing to do.
He holds himself responsible for the death of the child in a very touching scene where he allows Gino to beat him up.Philip finally makes a decision at the end of the film to ask Caroline to marry him, but he cannot get the words out before she heads him off by telling him that she loves Gino.
The film ends with the two of them hugging, and long, fraternal hug.
Meanwhile, the character who really suffers in the film is Harriet, the uptight sister.
Stop enjoying yourself, she is saying – she doesn't enjoy herself at any point in the film, in England or in Italy.
She does not try to understand Italian ways.
She's there to do a job and does it.
But she botches the job.
The bible-reading moral woman has made a mistake that has cost a child's life, and she is the only one that is crushed at the end.
She's the only one whose moral world will have to change for her to recover from the events in Italy.Gino also makes no effort to understand British ways for Lilia, and treats her disgracefully, as Harriet points out – fairly - echoing her mother's comment that a country can be judged by the quality of its men: a man who is not chivalrous towards women is no good.
But he is not punished at the end - he is left a way back to happiness.
Gino is forgiven for being a typical unreconstructed Italian male of his class, for beating his wife, but shows no real signs of changing at the end: he was not such a bad man after all: Italian men of that time, place and class just acted like that.
Personally, I agree with Harriet on that one, and forgive a wife-beating man less easily.
Harriet herself is not forgiven for her British reserve: maybe she is punished so severely not for being wrong, but for not being nice.
The film takes a critical attitude towards British reserve and is also somewhat critical of Italian inconsistency.
The two characters hugging at the end are the only two that come out of it favourably.
Philip and Caroline are the heart of the film, and the representatives of 'us' the viewers.
The other characters have less depth, but that is inevitable: after all, while Philip and Caroline understand both cultures, Harriet and Gino never understand the 'other', nor do they ever properly try to, and both of them end up killing someone as a result: Gino kills Lilia, certainly according to Harriet, while Harriet blames herself for killing the baby.
Harsh judgement: 'you'd better try to understand other cultures' is the message of the film.
For all her miserableness throughout the film, I was left feeling very sorry for her at the end ..
I found the characters lacking in much emotion except for Judy Davis.
The point seems to be about watching people transpose their freakishly uptight values onto a different culture, but it's played so broadly that one "gets it" in the first scene and there seems to no point to the rest of it.
These insufferable, condescending, moralizing, determined-to-be-miserable know-it-all martinet/harridans are incapable of realizing that the screeching incivility they deploy to uphold propriety is a much greater offence.Judy Davis is a complete lunatic both in the role and in her performance choices.
Charles Sturridge's large-screen version of E M Forster's tragicomic masterpiece of class and culture clash is as buttoned up as the corsets and starched shirts it's characters wear.
While Helena Bonham Carter and Rupert Graves just about get their characters, (you want to slap them, and hard, but at least you feel as if they are real), and Helen Mirren is full of life, (until she dies in childbirth), Judy Davis' performance as mad aunt Harriet takes her usual screaming harpy to unrestrained heights even for her, while Giovanni Guidelli's bland, handsome romantic hero is hopelessly inadequate.
Nevertheless, I can't help feeling that as it stands Merchant/Ivory could have made the masterpiece that Forster's book so obviously is..
This is precisely the kind of film of which it is said 'the English do so well' and we can extend this to include the BBC who wrote the book, as it were, on Classic adaptations that sometimes do turn out to be classics in themselves.
What we have here is, in effect, a glorified BBC adaptation made for the Big screen or, to put it another way, a film that boasts sound Production values, lush photography, decent acting yet somehow lacking the one element that will pull all this together into something that will linger in the memory longer than the time it takes to walk to the exit.
All the old familiar themes - class distinction, the English 'abroad', jingoism, xenophobia etc - are wheeled out and given a once-over-lightly by a competent group of actors but ultimately it's difficult for the film to shake off the so-what element that informs every frame..
Various crucial character motivations are left unexplained, the acting is stilted or over the top (both Helen Mirren and Judy Davis), and the crucial plot elements like the death of a baby barely make a mark (I don't count the silly, presumably homoerotic, punching of the Rupert Graves character by the grieving Italian father!).