I was almost more impressed by Charles Storridge's treatment of E,M,Forster than by James Ivory's, since everything is perfect in this film: the acting, the story, the drama, the photography, perhaps most outstanding of all, and the composition of the film building up to an inevitable dramatic climax, turning the enchantingly idyllic scenery into relentless disaster and tragedy. It's acrtually all about a child, while the crook here is a lady, who can't control herself. It's true, the Italian husband also runs out of control sometimes, while Rupert Graves is a consistent paragon of diplomacy. Helena Bonham Carter is the one of them who actually succeeds in understanding the Italians, while all the others are hopelessly at a loss in getting entangled in inexricable complications of the Italian mentality. Helen Mirren is the rich English lady of a mature age who gets hopelessly mixed up with a young Italian man, which triggers the drama, as her family gets more and more upset about it and acts more and more awkwardly to do something about it. It is in fact a shocker, but invaluable for charting cultural clashes between the English and the Italian way, and although you can understand Helen Mirren's initiative and accept her risk, one has to agree with the others whether it actually was so very wise. I haven't read Forster's novel, but it ought to be one of his most interesting ones.
