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I suppose every gay man of a certain age recalls fondly the British miniseries, Brideshead Revisited. Between the stately house, the attractive cast, and the kindly look on boyhood homosexuality, the Brideshead miniseries holds a sacred spot for many.
So it was with some trepidation that I went to the cinema to see the new film version of Brideshead. Fortunately I found a very likable telling of the story, beautifully filmed with a wonderful cast. I've never read the Evelyn Waugh novel, so I can't compare the film to that. It is, however, a very different slant to the story than the miniseries.
From the opening of the film, we realize there is a strong connection between Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode) and Julia Flyte (Hayley Atwell) which will be the core of the story. The relationship between Charles and Sebastian (Ben Whishaw) is treated more as an antecedent to his relationship with Julia.
The Catholic morality of the story is also much more strongly emphasized in the film version. I saw a connection between the Flytes' Catholicism and the family's declining aristocracy that I hadn't seen in the mini-series. Emma Thompson as Lady Marchmain is equal to the task of haughtiness that Claire Bloom had in the miniseries, but also manages to imbue a little softer, human side to things. Michael Gambon as Lord Marchmain isn't given enough in the film to offer a comparison to Lawrence Olivier in the miniseries.
Matthew Goode is very capable as Charles, while his performance and delivery do seem to channel Jeremy Irons at times. Ben Whishaw's Sebastian is asked to make a much quicker descent into alcoholism than was Anthony Andrews in the miniseries, and there was perhaps not enough of fun Sebastian to understand why Charles is drawn to Sebastian, before the ugly drunken scenes showed us the somber side of their relationship.
Is there a musical version of Brideshead? I can't believe that no one has at least tried!
Brideshead Revisited
2008 film release
Directed by Julian Jerrold
Cast: Matthew Goode, Ben Whishaw, Hayley Atwell, Emma Thompson, Michael Gambon
So it was with some trepidation that I went to the cinema to see the new film version of Brideshead. Fortunately I found a very likable telling of the story, beautifully filmed with a wonderful cast. I've never read the Evelyn Waugh novel, so I can't compare the film to that. It is, however, a very different slant to the story than the miniseries.
From the opening of the film, we realize there is a strong connection between Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode) and Julia Flyte (Hayley Atwell) which will be the core of the story. The relationship between Charles and Sebastian (Ben Whishaw) is treated more as an antecedent to his relationship with Julia.
The Catholic morality of the story is also much more strongly emphasized in the film version. I saw a connection between the Flytes' Catholicism and the family's declining aristocracy that I hadn't seen in the mini-series. Emma Thompson as Lady Marchmain is equal to the task of haughtiness that Claire Bloom had in the miniseries, but also manages to imbue a little softer, human side to things. Michael Gambon as Lord Marchmain isn't given enough in the film to offer a comparison to Lawrence Olivier in the miniseries.
Matthew Goode is very capable as Charles, while his performance and delivery do seem to channel Jeremy Irons at times. Ben Whishaw's Sebastian is asked to make a much quicker descent into alcoholism than was Anthony Andrews in the miniseries, and there was perhaps not enough of fun Sebastian to understand why Charles is drawn to Sebastian, before the ugly drunken scenes showed us the somber side of their relationship.
Is there a musical version of Brideshead? I can't believe that no one has at least tried!
Brideshead Revisited
2008 film release
Directed by Julian Jerrold
Cast: Matthew Goode, Ben Whishaw, Hayley Atwell, Emma Thompson, Michael Gambon
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