Discuss Howards End
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Accessible period drama with a somewhat strange ending *spoilers*
posted by FergooseSTAFFMOD on ডিসেম্বর 14, 2020 at 5:00 PM
I could pick holes in this; the tendency to extreme coincidence that apparently appears to be a feature of E.M. Forster's work, the director leaving things in from the book with zero context (e.g. Helen being with two children at the end of the film), but this was very diverting in a lot of ways and considerably better than the same director/author combo in Room With A View.
The ending seemed somewhat hurried but the main bit that threw me was that Helen's apparent first love, Paul, appears at the end, shortly after we have learnt Helen is pregnant and the father of her child is dead - I was convinced they were going to try give Helen respectability by having her marry Paul and they go overseas. But no, Paul's appearance back from another continent at the 11th hour was just incidental - he doesn't even walk 10 paces from the house to acknowledge the existence of his former sweetheart. Unless misdirection was intentional then I think that would have been handled better by leaving Paul out of it.
Anyway, bit of a minor quibble against an otherwise solid 7/10
Reply by Strange Bedfellows
on ডিসেম্বর 25, 2020 at 8:11 AM
I recall this film from a while ago - so I may be misremembering some things - allow for that!! It seemed to me that if the Bast's were so poor what was he doing at a concert? And why would he bother to return an umbrella. I also thought the "undiagnosed heart disease" that caused his death was a bit implausible. As you say the coincidence of his wife Jacky being the very woman who was seduced and left abandoned by Henry was a clumsy device. His reaction to it was ridiculous. I thought Margaret Shlegel came across as a bit of a stalker. I didn't blame Henry for ignoring his wife's wish to leave the family mansion to her instead of their children - I would have done the same as he did - I doubt it was a legal will anyway with no witnesses - written in pencil? can't recall. I thought Margaret's logic of "I forgave you - why can't you forgive her" was stupid - people make their own choices - Margaret had nothing to forgive him for - he wasn't unfaithful to her - he was unfaithful to his first wife Ruth. I thought Helen was a bit of a floosie - she virtually raped poor Leonard!! I think Paul was recalled to the plot just to round out the original characters - he had no interest in Helen or she in him - and in those days he wouldn't have touched her with a bargepole as an unmarried mother. I didn't buy Henry's final acceptance of the situation - he was too much of a dyed in the wool narrow minded man of his times. Helen would have been a source of undying shame to him. Not as generous as you 5/10 !!!
Reply by Fergoose
on ডিসেম্বর 25, 2020 at 11:35 AM
Yes, Helen and Margaret were deeply flawed as individuals. I'm not sure if the film actually wanted us to sympathise with them though, so I gave that a pass. I agree that the ending was a bit of a strange jolt from what preceded it, but in suppose years had passed and Margaret had probably pestered him about it.