The Line of Beauty
by Saul Dibb
List Price:
Our Price: $14.99
You Save: $4.99 (25%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $11.65 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Alice Krige, Barbara Flynn, Dan Stevens (IV), Kenneth Cranham, Tim McInnernyDirector: Saul Dibb
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 177 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-10-17
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: BBC Warner
Movie Reviews of The Line of Beauty
Movie Review: A Life Perpetual Wandering
Summary: 5 Stars
There is much to learn from UK's treatment of homosexuality in films. The subtle details of realism are often absent in American versions of the gay cinema. The story does not insult viewer's intelligence with some self-pity fest or wrap things up in an unbelievable Hollywood ending.
The undertone of the story is rather grim, much like Breakfast on Pluto. The future is viewed as bleak and hopeless. The way it unfolds is like Maurice, so it's not really for people with short attention span. Fortunately the story is divided into three episodes, and can be viewed more or less independently. The story can sink one's heart rather deep, so be forewarned.
The main character is called Nick Guest. Like his name suggests, he does not find a place where he belongs. The way I see it, he is this paradigm figure that represents every gay man. He had fun, had made a career, while it lasts.... He thought he had love and friendship, but at the end of the story, everything was but a grand illusion, then he moves on again, with uncertainty.
The very last spoken line wrapped up everything.... When Nick decided to move on and move out of the house he had made it home for the last four years, he had a little chat with Elena. He recalled it was amusing he had mistaken the servant as the mistress of the house. Elena, however, spoke with a smiling indifference, "I knew from the first moment, you were no good." To me, that is the line that hurts the most; an in-your-face denial of familial connection.
The film captured the essence of what is like to be gay very well. It's not without flaw, however. I was quite baffled at how Nick could flip from sexually-inexperienced to someone who engaged public sex with a stranger. He also seemed to know how to do it (from behind) on his first try....
In any case, it's a good gay film that deserves to be called a drama (and not to be mistaken as "drama" ;-)). Whole-heartedly recommend, but please watch it when you're not already too depressed.
Summary of The Line of Beauty
Isn't it ironic that Nick Guest (Dan Stevens), the protagonist in the BBC's miniseries, A Line of Beauty, is a Henry James scholar at university before being inducted into the fast-paced, sexy world of upper class British society? Director Saul Dibb has transformed this politically scandalous story, based on the Alan Hollinghurst novel, into a juicy, three-part series set in 1986/87 that pits decadence against the heartbreak and crash that often follows it. A Line of Beauty follows Guest, an aspiring politician, who happily accepts an invitation to live and work for a friend's family headed by famous Conservative, Gerald Fedden (Tim McInnerny), under the condition that Guest watch their mentally unstable daughter, Cat (Hayley Atwell). Upon discovering that Nick's gay, Cat and Nick become best friends. Plots complicate to keep Nick's sexuality under wraps, as the viewer glimpses fancy debauched parties, major drug use (the show is named after a line of cocaine), and explicit sexual escapades. Soundtracked by great '80s bands like Duran Duran and New Order, the show's hip coolness counterbalances Guest's ultimate tragic fall, following the onset of AIDS. A story that at once assesses the British political corruption, sexual discrimination, and '80s fashion, A Line of Beauty offers soap opera-like entertainment along with conceptual substance. --Trinie DaltonAdapted by award-winning writer Andrew Davies from Alan Hollinghurst's Booker Prize-winning novel this three-part saga is set during the Thatcherite 1980s. A story of love class sex and money The Line of Beauty crawls deep under the skin of Thatcher's Britain seen through the eyes and experiences of a young gay man from the euphoria of falling in love to the tragedy of AIDS. Framed by the two general elections which returned Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative government to power the series unfurls through four extraordinary years of change and tragedy.Running Time: 180 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MISCELLANEOUS/SPECIAL INTEREST UPC: 794051267320 Manufacturer No: E2673
Drama DVD Video
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Movies most talked about in Actors' Butts Part 26
Where's Poppa?Release date: 2002-12-03; DVD
Best price: $3.75
Price in other shops:
Semi-ToughRelease date: 2001-05-08; DVD
Best price: $2.30
Price in other shops:
North Dallas FortyNOLTE,NICK; Release date: 2001-01-30; DVD
Best price: $4.46
Price in other shops:
The Tin DrumRelease date: 1999-02-16; DVD
Best price: $44.95
Cry UncleRelease date: 1999-05-25; DVD
Best price: $7.89
Price in other shops:
Heaven Help UsWarner Brothers; Release date: 2005-08-30; DVD
Best price: $4.79
Price in other shops:
When the Party's OverRelease date: 2002-05-21; DVD
Best price: $6.65
Price in other shops:
Terminator 2 - Judgment Day (The Ultimate Edition DVD)Release date: 2000-08-29; DVD
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops:
The Doom GenerationRelease date: 1998-08-05; DVD
Best price: $49.99
Angel BlueRelease date: 2000-10-03; DVD
Best price: $10.87
Price in other shops:
Similar DVD Movies
Rock HavenTLA RELEASING; Release date: 2007-11-06; DVD
Best price: $11.56
Price in other shops:
A Love to HideWOLFE VIDEO; Release date: 2006-12-05; DVD
Best price: $18.65
Price in other shops:
Adam & Steve (2005)TLA RELEASING; Release date: 2006-08-08; DVD
Best price: $10.56
Price in other shops:
Summer StormWELLSPRING/GENIUS; Release date: 2006-09-05; DVD
Best price: $13.56
Price in other shops:
Shortbus (Unrated Edition)DAWSON,PAUL; Release date: 2007-03-13; DVD
Best price: $17.18
Price in other shops:
Dante's Cove - The Complete Second SeasonRelease date: 2007-06-05; DVD
Best price: $20.97
Price in other shops:
The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan GreenLETTERLE,DANIEL; Release date: 2006-10-10; DVD
Best price: $13.49
Price in other shops:
Dante's CoveWELLSPRING/GENIUS; Release date: 2006-08-08; DVD
Best price: $12.49
Price in other shops:
Third Man OutWELLSPRING/GENIUS; Release date: 2006-08-08; DVD
Best price: $14.95
Price in other shops:
Another Gay MovieTLA RELEASING; Release date: 2006-11-21; DVD
Best price: $14.83
Price in other shops: