Brideshead Revisited
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Movie Reviews of Brideshead Revisited
Movie Review: Suffers the shift in format
Summary: 2 Stars
The first thing that came to mind when I heard there was going to be a film adaptation of Brideshead was to shudder in utter disbelief. Unfortunately for the rest of us, it would seen Hollywood can think of nothing new to do with itself and so is content to either rehash old formulas or revisit the past and do the oft times unwarranted and usually blunder laden re-make. And so we have this two hour version of Brideshead Revisited. And more is the pity for it. Because the sad truth of the matter is, this will for some be seen as the only version that counts because it was done up like a tart by Hollywood and put before us as a ready made classic.
For the those of us who have read the book this film is a slap in the face to the author who wrote with such considerate beauty and warm subtly of a fading way of life, the complexities of religion, and the raging currents of the heart. It takes the themes of the books and manipulates them in such a way as to make the intent of the author seem irrelevant to the telling of the story. The religious aspect of the film is so heavy laden as to make one think of the Spanish Inquisition. The author by comparison gave what I believe was a fair handed examination of religion and the rebellion religion can sometimes cause against it. It was done with consideration and aptitude where as the film basically bashes both the people who practice it and the religion itself for no other reason than the writer and director could.
To those of us who have seen and adore the 1981 PBS mini-series, this is an unabashed disaster. This film takes away the detail and lushness of the former. The haunting longing of first love and rebellion of all things as it tries to adhere to the conventional even as it is slowly but inevitably fading. This film with its short attention span makes the relationships between Charles, Sebastian and Julia simultaneous rather than taking its time and showing the gap in years between both relationships. The homoerotic relationship between Sebastian and Charles with its glances and touches, the ambiguity of their relationship which is hinted at and therefore gives it an urgency (because we know it was then and still to this day by some was socially unacceptable), its tenderness (because we see the seeds of first love planted and tended to with adoring hands), its tragedy (because we know in our hearts as much as we might want it to be different it cannot last), have been stripped away in the film. In its place we get a harried cramming together and utter distortion of both relationships.
In the mini-series we get to know and love Sebastian in the same way Charles does, making what happens to Sebastian as haunting as it is tragic. Making us long for that long ago summer the two spent alone at Brideshead when they were young and the world lay before them a thing to be explored and unafraid of. Sebastian being the symbol of an aristocracy that is no longer needed and was leaving the stage for younger , fairer actors to prance about. Leaving not with its head held high but cast rather as lost to itself and confused as to how it got where it ended up.
How could anyone but the indomitable Jeremy Irons ever been seen as the love seeking, artistic, dreamer Charles or Anthony Andrews as the marvelous, charming and tragic Sebastian?
If you want to see Brideshead Revisited in all of its wondrous glory I suggest you rent or better yet buy the 1981 PBS mini-series also on sell here at Amazon, instead of wasting your time on this dreck.
Movie Review: Sadly disappointing
Summary: 2 Stars
Brideshead Revisited is one of my favorite books. When the 1980 BBC series came out, I watched all the episodes and re-read the book. This movie is a ghost of the original.
As others have noted, the original was a deeply nuanced story with considerable ambiguity. Characters were three-dimensional. Sebastian above all was at once charismatic, flamboyant and tragic. Lady Marchmain was a sympathetic figure. Julia was complex and confident.
Here Sebastian is shown as a thin, vulnerable rebel. He's pitiful. Ryder comes across first as a hanger-on, then a busybody, Julia as an obnoxious tease.
Some scenes seem to be added. I don't remember the scene between Rex and Charles, discussing Julia, from before. I don't remember Julia's angry confrontation with Charles.
As others have noted, Waugh was a strong Catholic. The movie actually presented the Catholic Church in a positive light, showing the deep emotional bond the family members experienced despite their personal frustrations with the everyday implication of the religion. Here the lines are more sharply drawn.
The climactic scene with Lord Marchmain was important and symbolic when the book was written. Now Lord Marchmain's gesture might be interpreted differently, as we understand more about dying and different types of memory.
The original movie and book included yet another final scene with Charles Ryder, projecting a totally different lens through which to view the movie. Very subtle but ultimately convincing, given the time.
I'd agree with reviewers who vote for the original BBC series and/or the original book. This one's a waste of time.
Movie Review: Brideshead Renovated
Summary: 2 Stars
There's nothing better than a good dramatic, romantic movie with people in fancy old-fashioned clothes and upperclass British accents. Sometimes they can be thought-provoking, sometimes they can be escapist fantasy, either way, they're enjoyable. Brideshead Revisited is neither.
The original story has been not so much adapted as rearranged to fit the stereotype of what the director thinks a Merchant-Ivory movie should be. Everything controversial and interesting in Evelyn Waugh's novel (religion, class, family conflicts, homosexuality, alcoholism, lust, sin) is completely watered down.
The relationship between middle-class atheist Charles Ryder and Lord Sebastian Flyte of the fantastically wealthy Catholic Marchmain family is the center of the original story, but here its delegated to a 3-minute montage of the two handsome collegiates frolicking on the lawn. The focus is then on the romance between Charles and Lady Julia Flyte, which arises without explanation, is completely devoid of any kind of sparks or chemistry, and sputters out without any real emotion from either party.
Emma Thompson is of course, excellent as the rigidly Catholic Lady Marchmain. Michael Gambon is also great in his few scenes as the renegade Lord Marchmain. And Ben Whishaw is believably tragic as the tortured alcoholic, homosexual and perpetually adolescent Sebastian Flyte. But the two romantic leads are about as interesting and romantic as dishwater. And since the moviemakers have in this case chosen to make these two star-crossed jellyfish the focus of the story, the overall quality of the movie follows suit.
Movie Review: Now a next Brideshead Refilmed is desperately needed...
Summary: 2 Stars
I guess I've said enough about this failure, here and there on these pages, in my comments. I find this production 'An Exercise In Cowardness' and regard it as completely missing the point. The film is focused on the relationship between Charles and Julia [as a crowd-pleaser I guess, thus severely underestimating the audience]. I'm quite sure that the book and mini-series would have been completely forgotten if Evelyn Waugh had done the same. I'm glad he didn't and that he gave the world Charles and Sebastian: the fascinating story of a hyper-complex and extremely multi-faceted relationship between two young men, bringing together religion and atheïsm, gay and straight, an aristocrat and a burgher, the sexual and the platonic, art and the...well...art of falling apart, a near orphan and a family-member, an alcoholic and social drinker, heaven and hell, an excentric and a square, and so on and on. And Venice. Love. In his time Waugh had to hide or write many treasures of the friendship between the lines. Almost thirty years ago the British ITV brought enough talent together to dig up a considerable amount of the gold Sebastian and Charles buried. The film left the rest untouched.Movie Review: Middlebrow Telanovela
Summary: 2 Stars
Evelyn Waugh's "Brideshead Revisited" is one of the great English novels of the Twentieth Century. The novel follows the fortunes of an aristocratic family in the years between the two world wars. Brideshead Revisited has powerful things to say about the intersection of love and religious faith. The first film adaption of the novel aired on PBS' Masterpiece Theater in the early 1980's. Many long time fans of Masterpiece Theater consider the eleven hour series to be the finest one that has ever aired on the program.
The screenwriter of this current version faced a very difficult task in reducing a complex novel of ideas into a two hour film. Unfortunately, the screenwriter was not up to the task. At its core, Brideshead Revisited is about religious faith. This current version reduces the story to a middlebrow telanovela. Waugh's Brideshead Revisited is a great story and I would recommend investing the time to read the novel or watch the Masterpiece Theater adaption.