You know the question about which films would you take with you if you were going to be abandoned on an island and could only take so many? One of mine would be A Room with a View.

One point you didn’t touch on that I can remember is the Emersons being in fact Emersonians (i.e., transcendentalists). This definition from the Wiki seems very applicable to the film. “A core belief was in the inherent goodness of both people and nature. They believed that society and its institutions ultimately corrupted the purity of the individual, and had faith that people are at their best when truly “self-reliant” and independent.”

This plays out in the film’s contrasts–Straight hedges England versus wild and unkempt Italy. Uninhibited, open to new experiences Eleanor versus uptight Charlotte. And, most of all, Cecil versus George, for what is Cecil after all if not institutionalized? And what is George if not pure and natural? Heck, he’s hanging from a tree shouting his barbaric yawp at one point.

Mr. Beebe is right about Lucy. Fortunately for her, George comes along and saves her from an insufferable corseted life with Cecil.

Speaking of Cecil, I thought Lewis was brilliant. He manages to portray the fop as sufficiently off-putting without being entirely unsympathetic, which he might easily have been.