A Room with a View (1985), directed by James Ivory. Sunday, March 12, Criterion Channel at home.

I don’t really know what made us watch A Room with a View last night, except that is was featured on the Criterion Channel and I remember kind-of liking it when it came out. Over the years, though, I came to dislike their films–the Merchant-Ivory movies of the 80s and 90s became a brand name for dull, usually English art-house fare, the stuff that clogged little cinemas and kept genuinely interesting films from those screens. That’s annoying and should’ve kept me from ever watching their flicks again. But watch it we did and we were moderately entertained.

A Room with a View is well-made, has some interesting sets, is very well cast (I mean, everyone who speaks in this film is interesting), but it’s true–their movies are just plain blah. I mean, there’s no reason this thing got a bunch of Oscar nominations and made money in theaters–though I remember the guys at Lansing’s Odeon Cinema saying how great Merchant-Ivory films were, because their box office meant they could later bring in Solaris, and other perplexing films that were hard to sell. That’s how it goes, I guess. Merchant-Ivory films made coin, and prompted the BBC and other English companies to pump out these mediocre costume dramas ever since.

There is a pretty funny full-frontal nude scene in the middle of the movie, which I can’t believe I forgot about–it’s pretty daring. What’s even weirder is that I was giggling with anticipation for a scene I have absolutely never forgotten about (and that I wish was on YouTube to share). Daniel Day-Lewis plays this fuddy-duddy, Cecil Vyse. At one point in the movie Cecil is visiting the Honeychurch family (don’t worry about the plot) and, strolling around the family’s tennis court, reads from an awful book (to make fun of it). He’s a stuffy, uptight character. Suddenly, a tennis ball bops him in the face. Day-Lewis’ reaction is great. It’s a simple moment–a tennis ball hits him in the face, breaking his concentration, and his look is priceless. But I will tell you that I just about fell over when I saw it almost 40 years ago and just about fell over last night, too. I was laughing so hard Janice laughed, too, then we rewound the moment about five times, just to keep laughing. It’s not that funny, but to me it’s gut-busting. And here’s the thing: I have thought of that moment every time I saw a Daniel Day-Lewis film over the years. Christy Brown, Gerry Conlon, Abe Lincoln, Daniel Plainview, Reynolds Woodcock–at some point while watching My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father, Lincoln, There Will Be Blood or Phantom Thread I have imagined Day-Lewis getting beaned by a tennis ball and his hilarious look of annoyance. Undoubtedly, that’s all I’ll remember from last night’s screening as well.