Where Angels Fear to Tread

With all the hoo-ha last year over Howards End, another adaptation of an E.M. Forster novel slipped by almost unnoticed. Happily, video gives it a second chance. Where Angels Fear to Tread pits British propriety against Italian passion as an English family, convinced of its rectitude, unknowingly sets tragedy in motion by interfering in other people's lives. Gorgeously shot in the wonderful hill town of San Gimignano — and suffering somewhat in the reduction to video — the film is constantly involving. It features wonderful performers, especially Judy Davis as the prim, punishing hysteric and Rupert Graves, unforgettably poignant as a man for whom direct emotion is foreign, mine-laden territory. The overall landscape of Angels — emotionally expansive, with peaks of high comedy — is true to Forster and well worth a visit. B+

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