A Room with a View

E.M. Forster's turn-of-the-century novel about Edwardian manners is expertly adapted for the screen. Lucy (Helena Bonham Carter) travels to Florence with her chaperone (Maggie Smith) in tow. There, Lucy meets and falls for a fellow countryman's moody son (Julian Sands). But like any proper Englishwoman of that era, she must fight her feelings … and it's a losing battle. Merchant-Ivory's first big hit won a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar.