Daniel Day-Lewis broke onto the scene with two roles in 1985 movies that could not have been more different from one another, demonstrating his extraordinary range right from the get-go. In a supporting role in Merchant Ivory’s “Room with a View,” he plays the snobby Cecil Vyse, with who the central character Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham Carter) becomes engaged. The delightful Denholm Elliott plays eccentric Mr. Emerson, and Julian Sands plays his son George, a romantic, passionate, impetuous young man who is a stark contrast to Cecil.
The cast is rounded out by British acting stalwarts such as Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, and Simon Callow. The film contains stunning scenery, firstly in Florence, then in the Surrey countryside. “A Room with a View” has some of the best hair ever seen onscreen — from Carter’s piles of Gibson Girl curls to Rupert Graves’ floppy mop. One of the most memorable scenes is when George, Freddy, and Reverend Beebe are bathing in a pool in the woods, and Cecil and Lucy stumble across them.
Day-Lewis spends the entire film looking down his nose (through his pince-nez) at everyone, bristling at the joy others find in silly songs, romantic literature, or anything else he considers “ugly things.” It is typical of Day-Lewis to choose a prickly, thorny, unsympathetic role over someone we could easily fall in love with, and he’s been challenging himself in this way ever since.
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