Howard's End (1992)

 Despite the brilliant performances, I found this film lacking, skipping between scenes with nothing connecting them. 

The characters were connected as they would only in Dickens novels or others from the pre-WWII era.  Emma Thompson shines as Margaret Schlegel, the eldest, practical sister with her smart, sensible younger brother, Tibby (Adrian Ross Magenty) and high-strung but well-meaning sister, Helen (Helena Bonham Carter). Before the film started, Margaret befriend the matriach of the Wilcox family, Ruth (the regal Vanessa Redgrave) and Helen had a torrid albeit brief affair with the calm Wilcox son, Paul (Joseph Bennett). And then as the film unravels, Ruth and Margaret befriend each other despite Ruth's failing health. After her death, there is the debate over who should inherit Ruth's family home and against all odds, Margaret falls in love with Ruth's widower, Henry (Anthony Hopkins) though they have different philosophies. On the other hand, there are the Basts, who are poor, working class though Leonard Bast (Samuel West) has a creative and imaginative mind. 

Things don't get interesting until Leonard and Helen have a one afternoon stand and she becomes pregnant (as that always happens in Hollywood films) and the marriage between Henry and Margaret disintegrates before our very eyes. 

Everything works out in the end. The hot-headed Charles Wilcox (James Wilby) kills Leonard for him knocking up Helen (though he didn't even know) but is charged with manslaughter and Margaret gets Ruth's family home (the titular Howard's End). 

Still, despite the brilliant performances and the fact that Bonham Carter was robbed of a supporting Actress nomination at the Oscars, the film is just too dis-jointed at the beginning, skipping around between scenes so quickly, almost like little connected vignettes. It's a shame as the characters were perfectly cast and the cinematography and set design were utterly brilliant. Grade: B+

Side Notes:

-Margaret deserves far better than Henry. He had a mistress (in such a ridiculous plot twist) which happens to be Jacky Bast (Nicola Duffett). She forgives him rather quickly. I wouldn't have been that forgiven. 

-There is always that double-standard. Men can sleep around (provided they don't impregnate the woman) while women cannot.