Helena Bonham Carter: 15 Greatest movies of all time
#13. Howards End
Original release date: Feb 26, 1992
Box office earnings: $52,568 (opening weekend), $25,967,000 (USA gross)
Critical acclaim: 3 Oscar wins (Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published, Best Art Direction – Set Decoration), 6 Oscar nominations (Best Picture, Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Music – Original Score)
1 Golden Globes win (Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama), 3 Golden Globes nominations (Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director – Motion Picture, Best Screenplay – Motion Picture)
2 BAFTA Awards wins (Best Actress, Best Film), 9 BAFTA Awards nominations, including Helena Bonham Carter for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
About the role: Helen Schlegel is the younger sister in the novel and movie adaptation, Howards End. This is the headstrong, pushy little sister, who starts off friendly but can sometimes leave you exasperated by her actions. Despite the time the story is set, Helen doesn’t believe in the practical ways the world works.
She’s also the brains and charm of the family. This is the one that most people in the story are drawn to, and she certain has the money to help push her through the world. What she doesn’t realize is how spoiled she is, and that affects everything that she does. Throughout the story, she means well with all her actions but it doesn’t always play out the way she would hope or in a way that supports others.
Simply the best: If you enjoy book adaptations, this is a movie for you. Helena Bonham Carter captures everything that Helen is in the novel and transforms it on the screen into a character that you love and dislike at the same time because of her actions.
This is one of Bonham Carter’s earlier roles, when she quickly proved that she was worthy of sharing screen time with the likes of Anthony Hopkins and Vanessa Redgrave. She went up against Emma Thompson, who played older sister Margaret Schlegel, and never allowed the bigger star to take over the screen. If previous movies hadn’t managed to cement the idea that Bonham Carter was an actress to watch, this one would.