Another Merchant and Ivory production of an E.M. Forster novel. But, oh, don’’t forget the third less well known partner in this film making team, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, who wrote most of Merchant and Ivory’s screenplays. So, it’s England in the 1910’s again and a story about the division between the social classes.

Howards End is a house, a mansion, an estate. In a special feature it was described that Forster meant the property to represent England, the country. The Schlegels, Helen, Margaret, and their quieter brother Tibby had been born at Howards End. Their family later had financial difficulties and lost the house. It was bought by the Wilcox family. Anthony Hopkins as Henry Wilcox, who is in the highest of the upper classes will not give the property to the slightly lower Schlegels. In fact, he refuses to let any of his family live there. He would rather let it sit and go to waste. Now all grown up, Emma Thompson as Margaret seems passive-aggressive (much more on the passive side) in her plan to get Howards End back in her family’s name. I kept expecting her to use a surprise double-cross move in order to tear down the Wilcox family and grab the estate out of their hands, but she is the image of kindness, gentleness, and forgiveness. It is through befriending the dying Ruth Wilcox (Redgrave) and marrying Henry that she keeps her family close enough to the estate for it to fall in her lap when the Wilcox family self-destructs in their own snobbery and hypocrisy.

The other main storyline involves Helena Bonham Carter as Helen Schlegel who is very impulsive. By chance, she causes Leonard Bast (West) to come into their lives. Bast is a man of much lower social class who has tried to work his way up. The Schlegel sisters come to care for him and try to help him, though fate and the status quo prevent them. Helen begins to have deeper feelings for the married Bast. She becomes pregnant with his illegitimate child, which of course is a huge scandal in high society. Anyways, the times are a-changin and it’s more the downfall of the corrupt rich than the meager efforts of the poor that lead to things turning around in the end.