I liked it but I also disliked it.

I enjoyed the fact that I've met characters like that several times.

Marlon, Claudia and Dimby the cats 1989-2005, 2007 and 2010.

Terrible bore. H.J., Lois and Marya have such a cut and dried relationship, it generates no excitement at all. The actors really deserved a better story, especially Maggie Smith whose character is the weakest.

I concur! It's good and it's bad, at the same time. And one of the oddest things about it is that despite it's elegance, there is a grotesque quality to the supposed beauty of it too, which makes it not an entirely comfortable viewing experience. That said, the visual elegance of some of it as well as some of the cast prevent me from dismissing it as bad completely. In fact, I will probably keep a copy of it for those reasons. But, if not for them, this movie would be nothing to me.

And just as an aside---I am beginning to think Merchant-Ivory has a thing for nudity! Oh, I know it's nothing compared to most films, but still, they are some of the few times I've seen full-frontal male nudity in a movie. The other was in A ROOM WITH A VIEW. Most films shy away from that, for some reason, but not Merchant-Ivory, apparently (not that there's anything wrong with nudity in the right circumstance, like a lovemaking scene. But, it seems unnecessary and tacky in these films).

Please excuse typos/funny wording; I use speech-recognition that doesn't always recognize!