Howards End

Synopsis: Encounter of three social classes of England at the beginning of the 20th century : the Victorian capitalists (the Wilcoxes) considering themselves as aristocrats, whose only god is money ; the enlightened bourgeois (the Schlegels), humanistic and philanthropic ; and the workers (the Basts), fighting to survive. The Schlegel sisters' humanism will be torn apart as they try both to softly knock down the Wilcox's prejudices and to help the Basts.
Genre: Drama, Romance
Director(s): James Ivory
Production: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
  Won 3 Oscars. Another 29 wins & 48 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.5
Metacritic:
89
Rotten Tomatoes:
93%
PG
Year:
1992
142 min
$157,888
1,457 Views


[ Chattering]

[ Man ]

Charles. that's not being chivalrous.

[ Woman ] Don't worry, Mr. Wilcox.

There's no place in this game for chivalry.

It tends to bring out

the animal in all of us.

[ Chattering Continues ]

Evie, not fair!

[ Chattering Continues]

[ Woman ] "Dearest Meg,

I'm having a glorious time."

"I like them all."

"They are the very happiest,

jolliest family thatyou could imagine."

"The fun of it is that

they think me a noodle..."

[ Chuckling ]

"and say so..."

"at least Miss Wilcox does."

"Oh, Meg. shall we ever

learn to talk less?"

"Oh. but, Meg. Meg,

dearest, dearest Meg..."

"I don't know what to say.

or what you will say."

"Paul Wilcox and I are in love."

"We are engaged."

- Annie.

- Well! You Schlegel girls.

- Tibby, look.

- Margaret, ifI may interfere.

- What on earth is going on?

- I

I can tell you nothing. Aunt Juley.

I know no more than you do. I

We only met the Wilcoxes last spring

while we were hiking in Germany.

Oh, dear.

Obviously. someone must go down to

this Howards House and make inquiries.

- Howards End.

- No, Margaret, inquiries are necessary.

What do we know about these Wilcoxes?

Are they our sort?

- Are they likely people?

- But. Aunt Juley...

what does it matter?

Helen's in love.

That's all I need to know.

Would you please get me

a train timetable, dear?

- Morning.

- Morning.

Paul?

[ Man ]

I'm afraid Crane has reported sick again.

But he was to take me

to the Warringtons today for tennis.

- I told him.

- He's shamming. of course.

You should get rid of him, Father.

Hire a new chauffeur.

[ Motor Running ]

Mother, we're off. Good-bye.

Charlie, Charlie. wait. wait!

- What?

- Is Papa there?

Wait a minute.

We've got some cherries.

[ Chattering, Indistinct ]

Dad?

Evie.

All right. We're off.

- Bye.

- Bye-bye.

- About last night

- Nothing happened.

- I'm afraid I lost my head, rather.

- Yes, we both did.

It must have been the moonlight.

Except there was no moon.

Well, that's quite all right.

- Do you mind?

- No.

You see. I've no money of my own,

and I still have to make my way in Nigeria.

It's beastly out there for

a white woman, what with the climate...

and the natives and all that.

-I say, I do think you're a ripping girl.

-It's quite all right.

No one knows about it.

- Meg! I wrote to my sister.

- Oh. no. You didn't.

Yes. I'm sorry.

Look. she's sure to come down.

- We must stop her.

- We'll have to send a telegram.

- Oh, Crane's off sick.

- Isn't there a bicycle?

Oh, yes. there is, somewhere.

That will be one

and threepence, halfpenny. sir.

[ Helen ] M.J. Schlegel,

Six Wickham Place, London, West.

Dear Meg, all over.

Wish I'd never written.

Tell no one. Helen.

Excuse me. I'm looking for

somewhere called Howards House.

- My parcel?

- The porter has it.

Mr. Wilcox.

This lady wants Howards End.

Forgive my asking. Are you

the younger Mr. Wilcox, or the elder?

The younger. Ah.

This station's abominably organized.

If I had my way. the whole lot ofthem

should get the sack.

- Thank you. Bernard.

- Thank you. sir.

Perhaps I should introduce myself.

I am Miss Schlegel's aunt.

Oh. rather. Yes.

Miss Schlegel's stopping with us.

- Do you want to see her?

- Well. that would be very nice. yes.

I could run you up in the motor.

All the Schlegels are exceptional.

They are. of course, British to the

backbone but their father was German...

and that is why they care

for literature and art.

Uh, just one minute.

Wilcox, Howards End.

I'd like you to know that

I come in no spirit of interference.

I'm here to represent the family...

and to talk to you

about Helen. Mr. Wilcox.

My niece and you.

Miss Schlegel and, uh, and myself?

[ Aunt Juley ] I trust there's been

no misunderstanding.

Well. it is true that

I am engaged to be married...

but to another young lady.

not to Miss Schlegel.

Helen wrote to us, Mr. Wilcox.

She has told us everything.

Good God. it's some foolery of Paul's.

- But you are Paul.

- No. I'm not.

-Then why did you say so at the station?

-I said nothing ofthe sort.

- I beg your pardon. you did.

- I beg your pardon, I did not.

My name is Charles.

Do you mean to tell me that

Paul and your niece have

The idiot!

Damn fool!

Look. uh, I warn you.

It's useless.

Uh, Paul hasn't a penny.

No need to warn us.

The warning is all the other way.

But he hasn't told us, whereas your niece

has lost no time in publishing the news.

If I were a man. Mr. Wilcox,

for that last remark, I'd box your ears.

You're not fit to sit

in the same room as my niece...

- All I know is she spread the news

- Or to clean her boots.

- Might I finish my sentence, please?

- No!

I decline to argue with such a person.

- Let me out ofthis car this instant!

- Don't try and stand up!

- Stop! Stop!

- Sit down. Sit down!

- Stop!

- Just sit down!

For goodness sakes!

Just

[ Bicycle Bell Ringing ]

Push it down.

Oh, Helen.

It's all right.

[ Classical On Piano ]

[ Continues ]

It will, I think.

be generally admitted...

that Beethoven's Fifth Symphony

is the most sublime noise...

ever to have penetrated the ear of man.

What does it mean?

We can hardly fail

to recognize in this music...

a mighty drama:

The struggle of a hero

beset by perils...

riding to magnificent victory

and ultimate triumph...

as described in the development

section ofthe first movement.

What I want to draw

your attention to now...

is the third movement.

We no longer hear

the hero, but a goblin.

Thank you, Mother.

- [ Mid-Tempo ]

- A single. solitary goblin...

walking across the universe...

from beginning to end.

- Why a goblin?

- [ Stops ]

- I begyour pardon?

- Why a goblin?

Well, it's obvious.

The goblin signifies

the spirit of negation.

But why specifically a goblin?

Panic and emptiness.

That is what the goblin signifies.

Minor, spelling panic.

Major, magnificent.

- [ Resumes ]

- A hero, triumphant.

Miss.

Excuse me. miss. my umbrella.

Miss.

[ Thunder Rumbling ]

Miss! Miss!

[ Church Bells Ringing ]

Mrs. Wilcox, I haven't got

her wedding dress wet.

[ Man ]

Hurry up, Charles.

[ Woman ]

Charles. it's bucketing down!

- [ Charles ] Go on. In you go.

- [ Man ] Good-bye.

- Darling, the flowers.

- Good luck.

- Paul, my hat's in your hand.

- Good-bye.

See you there.

What astonishing bad luck...

that in the whole of London

they could find no flat to rent...

except the one bottled right up

against our library window.

Who could find no flat?

Tibby, the Wilcoxes.

Surely even you remember that business

last summer with Helen and Paul Wilcox.

Paul Wilcox.

The one I was expected to thrash

within an inch of his life?

Oh, miss!

What is it? Is Tibby ill?

Tibby's making tea.

Oh, well.

- If it's nothing worse than that.

- Now. Helen

Oh, dear.

Something odd has happened.

Promise me you won't mind.

It's the Wilcoxes.

They've taken the flat opposite

for the wedding oftheir son.

The other son.

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Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, (7 May 1927 – 3 April 2013) was a German-born British and American Booker prize-winning novelist, short story writer and two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter. She is perhaps best known for her long collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions, made up of director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant. After moving to India in 1951, she married Cyrus S. H. Jhabvala, an Indian-Parsi architect. The couple lived in New Delhi and had three daughters. Jhabvala began then to elaborate her experiences in India and wrote novels and tales on Indian subjects. She wrote a dozen novels, 23 screenplays, and eight collections of short stories and was made a CBE in 1998 and granted a joint fellowship by BAFTA in 2002 with Ivory and Merchant. She is the only person to have won both a Booker Prize and an Oscar. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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    "Howards End" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 Nov. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/howards_end_10330>.

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