Rocks that Move

5. HOWARDS END (1992)
directed by James Ivory
starring Emma Thompson, Anthony Hopkins, Helena Bonham Carter, Vanessa Redgrave, James Wilby, Samuel West, Jemma Redgrave

Whenever someone watches this movie it seems, they tell me it is boring, and it just blows my mind. Everyone has different tastes, so it is cool that someone might not like this film, but boring? I don't get it. Has the definition of "boring" changed? I always thought that boring meant that something was tedious, dull, tiresome, and/or repetitive. None of those, in my opinion, describe this movie at all. Actually, I take that back. I think I do get it. I cannot remember which movie exactly that it was, but I watched some predictable action film once and someone asked me what I thought. There were a lot of explosions: repetition. Almost all the lines were one-liners and exclamations: tedium. The plot was predictable and unoriginal: dull. It seemed like it would never end because of all the supposed plot twists that bogged it down: tiresome. The person was stunned when I told them what I thought. I guess the way I feel about this movie must be exactly how that person felt when I told them their "action" movie was boring. I don't mean that as an attack on action films, the best of which I love more than anything, but rather perhaps as a plea for a redefinition of what is dull and what is not. For me, I can think of few films more exciting than this one.

Perhaps my outburst in favor of this film is not fair. I am a social and intellectual history scholar, and I particularly love British history. Thus, "Howards End" plays right into my own personal interests. The Ivory/Merchant team produced here a stunning window into the past. It is a late Victorian world of class struggle. It is a depiction of the great divide of ideals between the men on top and the rest of us on the bottom. It is a modern world with classical impressions; an era where a man will duel for his honor... but then have to face a CSI-like investigation to determine the justice of his act. All this is presented by director James Ivory in a way that is... classy.

The film is simply gorgeous, like stepping into a painting. Cinematographer Tony Pierce-Roberts outdid himself. One scene, the scene where Leonard Bast (Samuel West) is walking through a field of bluebells in his imagination, is one of the most beautiful shots I've ever seen in film. The color. The mysterious music. It was magical. Contrast this to Bast's real life: an urban trap of concrete in a small, dank apartment literally right next to the train which shakes their apartment as it comes through in the middle of the night. This brings us to the plot...

"Howards End" is the name of a house. The house, for Ruth Wilcox (Vanessa Redgrave), symbolizes love, peace, revival, and happiness. It symbolizes England. It is her childhood home, and it is all that is left of her glorious past. Now she is old and lonely, despite her family all around her. Like some people and this movie, they just don't "get" her. Through a fortunate twist of fate, her son falls in love with a girl who he cannot marry, and she meets the relatively young Margaret Schlegel (Emma Thompson), perhaps my all-time favorite movie character. Margaret Schlegel is a kindred spirit, and Ruth senses inside of Margaret her own self; or rather a youthful self from an era long past. When Ruth passes away, we are treated to a sad montage of the flowers of her beloved home's garden, a symbol of her death. In her last moments she scribbles on a piece of paper that she would like to leave her beloved ancestral home to Margaret. Her family questions the circumstances of the letter and burn it. The rest of the film is an ironic and masterful spinning of relationships and intrigue.

The Wilcox family contrasts greatly with the Schlegels. Henry Wilcox (Anthony Hopkins) is aristocratic, imperial, and very conservative. He is a banker and one of the "great" men building the Empire of Britain. He is smart and reserved. To this kind of man, the world must be turned, and sometimes it will crush those who stand in the way. He is a "stiff upper lip" kind of guy. At the same time, Mr. Wilcox is noble, though lacking in paternal instinct. You imagine that he can trace his family all the way back to William the Conqueror, but that he wouldn't care to. He is forward-thinking... but not in an intellectual way. Mr. Wilcox does not care about the past. He cares about money, respect, and reputation. His sons and daughter are much the same way, though repressed by the power of their father over their lives.

Compare this to Margaret and Helen Schlegel (Helena Bonham Carter). Although reasonably wealthy themselves, they are artistic and intellectual. Their father was a German officer, but not your militant Prussian. He was the intellectual German thinker, and he hung up his sword forever, which now hangs over the Schlegel sisters' mantle as a decoration. The sisters are as one, finishing one another's sentences and thinking much alike. They reminded me of my youngest sisters. Margaret and Helen are idealistic, whimsical, talkative, liberal, and philanthropic. They are both intelligent and caring, but they share some important differences that are brought out as they interact with the world around them. Margaret is compassionate, wise, and practical. Helen is fiery, impulsive, and passionate.

All the relationships in this film tend to occur in pairs. Helen's brief affair with Paul Wilcox ("It must have been the moonlight... except there was no moon"), Henry's youngest son, sparks a domino effect of relationships. Margaret's relationship with Ruth Wilcox results in suspicion over Margaret's intentions regarding Howards End. Ruth Wilcox's death results in a new relationship between Margaret and Henry, whose moment of engagement must be the most awkward and unromantic in movie history. The two share little in common with one another except for one trait: practicality. This new relationship weakens Margaret and Helen's relationship, which results in Helen striking up a new relationship with Leonard. But Leonard already has a relationship with the abused Jacky. And then there are Charles and Dolly. And Evie and her husband. The movie is a whirlwind of relationships, but everything is attached and paced so well that it is not too difficult to keep up. That is half the fun of the film. It is like going to the ball and trying to keep up with all the dancing couples.

Underneath the ritz and relationships lies the dark underside of civilization. Through a series of accidents and coincidences, the young and idealistic Leonard Bast faces certain tragedy. He is a poor clerk, married to a woman he is not supposed to have married, cut off from his family, and trying to do the right thing. His imagination runs wild as he attempts to better himself through hard work, reading, and studying astronomy. He wants to better himself, but he does not want to intrude or beg either. Throughout it all, there is always music and meaning, and via the unfortunate stealing of his umbrella, he comes to meet the Schlegels. They befriend him and encourage him, but by accident they cost him his job. When Margaret and Helen's relationship fades, Helen's impulsive, though well-intentioned, attempts to remedy the situation result in the revealing of a terrible secret. A key scene is when she quarrels with Henry and Margaret over Leonard, and reveals her real fear: that Margaret's marriage has made her the old maid. Her rash reactions wreak havoc on everyone involved.

The ending of the film is an astounding coincidence. Howards End, the house, ends up belonging to Helen and her illegitimate son. You'll have to watch the film to see how. In any case, it is not as simple as this. Howards End is a symbol. Howards End is England during the social revolution. Owned for a millenium by the aristocracy and rich, through accident and idealistic liberty, it is repossessed by the working class. The respectable and powerful end up weak and rebuked, though in an odd sort of way they are freed of something they never really wanted anyway. The poor and neglected suffer horribly, but the result is a new world for their children, and presumably their children's children's children. The urban jungle they were destined to live and die in is replaced by an open field, golden sunshine, cool breeze in the trees... and bluebells and lilacs. The flowers were a symbol of death for Ruth Wilcox. Her death transforms the flowers into life for the people.

If you really want to get into the movie, try this recipe for FISH PIE and prepare it to eat while you watch:

1 1/2 lbs white fish fillets (or cod or haddock or eel)
2 cups milk, maybe ½ cup more,depending how thick you want the sauce
4 ounces margarine or butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 ounces peeled prawns
2 chopped hardboiled egg
1 tablespoon small capers
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup peas
1 finely chopped celery rib
1 tablespoon lemon juice
FOR THE POTATO TOPPING
2 lbs freshly cooked potatoes
1 ounce margarine or butter
2-3 tablespoons sour cream
a good grating nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Put the fish in a baking dish and season with salt and pepper.
3. Pour over 1 cup of the milk and dot with a few flecks of butter, bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
4. Strain but reserve the cooking juices, remove any skin from the fish and flake the flesh in large pieces.
5. Make the sauce, melt the rest of the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour and cook it for 1 minute, start adding the cooking juices bit by bit, stirring all the time, after that add the rest of the milk, if still too thick just add a little more milk.
6. Season the sauce with salt and pepper.
7. Mix in to the sauce: fish, prawns, eggs, capers, parsley, peas and celery, add the lemon juice and check the seasoning.
8. Pour the fish mixture in a 1½ liter greased ovenproof dish.
9. Mash the potatoes with the butter, sour cream and nutmeg, check the seasoning, and then spread this on top of the fish.
10. Bake in the oven at 400F for 30 –40 minutes.