This feels like it could be the high point of Merchant Ivory’s adaptations of E.M. Forster’s work, featuring a talented group of actors who depict Edwardian England as a society where traditional hierarchies are starting to falter. "Wilcox" (Anthony Hopkins) is essentially new money—a wealthy industrialist who has bought up several large estates from an aristocracy that's losing its grip on wealth. After his first wife (Vanessa Redgrave) passes away at the cottage named after her, she had seemingly promised it to a friend, "Margaret" (Emma Thompson), but the family ignores the written request and Margaret is unaware of this arrangement. Meanwhile, her sister, "Helen" (Helena Bonham-Carter), notices "Bast" (Samuel West), a diligent clerk who is married to "Jacky" (Nicola Duffett). Jacky is ambitious and Bast’s marriage is sympathetic but not particularly loving. “Wilcox” begins looking for a new wife, and Margaret becomes the frontrunner. However, it's questionable whether any genuine affection could ever exist between them, or for anyone involved, as family secrets—both old and current—resurface to trouble them and poor Bast. It’s an impressive story, and it handles the social dynamics of the time effectively, showing how three separate levels of society gradually begin to mix, with varying degrees of enthusiasm. I felt that Nicola Duffett gave a particularly compelling performance, although Redgrave also makes a good contribution in her brief appearance as the ill “Mrs. Wilcox,” and Samuel West is notable too, playing his character as an inherently awkward man who’s even more lost after relying on Helen for guidance. It's a thoughtful examination of human behavior that exposes dishonesty while also displaying acts of kindness, highlighting the skill of everyone involved and making it worth seeing.

Source on TMDB