A ROOM WITH A VIEW

Event date | May 18, 2026

Monday 18th May 2026. 6pm at Chelsea Old Town Hall

A ROOM WITH A VIEW: FILMING IN FLORENCE WITH MERCHANT IVORY

In 1985, the film director James Ivory, producer Ismail Merchant, and their scriptwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala adapted E.M. Forster’s 1908 novel, A Room with a View, into a successful feature film for the cinema. The cast included Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Helena Bonham-Carter. Set in Florence and in Surrey, this light comedy of Edwardian morals and manners explored themes that Forster would develop in later novels.

Sarah Quill worked as the set photographer during filming, and will describe some of the experiences of the cast and crew in Italy and England. Illustrated with her photographs, her talk will look at the background to the film and the lasting appeal of Forster’s novel.

Sarah has worked between Venice and London for many years to create a photographic archive of Venetian architecture, sculpture and daily life. Her book ‘Ruskin’s Venice: The Stones Revisited’ was published in 2000, followed by a new edition in 2015 which has been translated into Italian. During the 1980s she worked in the film industry, taking the set photographs on feature films. She gives regular lectures, principally on Venetian subjects, and is a trustee of the Venice in Peril Fund, the British committee for the preservation of Venice.

Tickets £25 (to include a glass of wine after the talk) available from the Box Office of the Cadogan Hall, 3 Sloane Terrace, London, SW1X 9DQ in person, or by phone 0207-730-4500 NB. The meeting is at Chelsea Old Town Hall, not at the Cadogan Hall. The meeting will start promptly at 6pm

Tickets are also available online via Eventbrite

Chelsea Society events are for our members, and when booking tickets members should use the name in which they are known to the Society (if in doubt please check with the Secretary).

Members may also bring guests.