These were definitely not apparent in the Merchant/Ivory version. That is, that George was blue collar to Lucy's landed gentry. This goes a long way to explain why their love was not approved by her family -except Freddie of course. Does any one know if this was made clear in the book?
shareClass was pretty much what Forster's novels were all about. As for the Merchant/Ivory version, it's been a while since I've seen it, but my guess that it's all there, if less pronounced than in this version.
Parler du soleil et l'on en voit les rayons.
They aren't a different class in the novel or the M/I version, the Emerson's just aren't the right "sort" of person, being radical free thinkers and talking about things like a lady's stomach involving digestion and other "indelicate" things.
I feel that this version uses the concept of class and the different English "accents" to try to explain why Lucy resists the match without really delving into her struggle to find herself.
Yes, the Merchant/Ivory version glossed over the very sharp class warfare aspect of the novel. I'm not really sure why that was. I suppose they thought there was enough of it between Cecil and Lucy (since Cecil makes numerous cutting remarks about Lucy and her family). But it definitely hurt the story in the Merchant/Ivory version.
The newer version works better because it does highlight the story of a middle class girl caught between two men, one considerably lower class than she and the other considerably higher born than she.