A Room with a View (1986)

The place to start, and the film that made the name. E. M. Forster's comedy of a young Englishwoman choosing between passion and propriety is lighter and funnier than its reputation, with chapter-title cards borrowed from the novel and a cast that never wastes a line. Helena Bonham Carter had her breakthrough as Lucy, Maggie Smith and Judi Dench are delicious as chaperone and novelist, and Daniel Day-Lewis turns the stuffy fiancé Cecil into a comic masterpiece. Shot extensively on location in Florence, it won three Oscars, including for its screenplay.