This post first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: August 10, 2008 - Literary adaptations can be tricky, especially when they have already been done very well. A case in point is “Brideshead Revisited,” which was made into a magnificent 11-part miniseries aired by PBS in 1981. That adaptation, which made Jeremy Irons a star, did more justice to Evelyn Waugh’s novel and was more satisfying overall. Still, English majors and other Anglophiles will have to see this new 135-minute film – now playing at Plaza Frontenac – if only for the clothes, cars, settings and contrasts.
The biggest star on view is a large building: Brideshead, portrayed this time by the glorious Castle Howard in Yorkshire.
This time Charles Ryder is played not by Jeremy Irons but by Matthew Goode, who does well enough but who is not Jeremy Irons. Sometime in the 1920s, Charles goes off to Oxford, leaving his dull, long-widowed father in a undistinguished house near Paddington in London. Almost immediately, Charles meets the classmate who will change his life: the rich, titled Sebastian Flyte (Ben Whishaw). While the homoerotic was ambiguous in the novel and the 1981 series, in this film it’s pretty obvious. Charles finds the hard-drinking, high-living Sebastian an enchanting creature, even more so after Sebastian drives him to Brideshead. Charles falls in love with the house and wants to meet the family.
Charles gets his wish when he is invited to Brideshead for a stay in the full bloom of summer. There he encounters Sebastian’s beautiful sister, Julia (Hayley Atwell), and his formidable mother, Lady Marchmain (Emma Thompson). He also starts reckoning with the family’s Roman Catholicism, something foreign and exotic to the atheist Charles. The visitor barely begins to understand his situation when Sebastian and Julia whisk him off to Venice, where the long-since-decamped Lord Marchmain (Michael Gambon) lives with his Italian mistress (Greta Scacchi). There amidst the voluptuous beauty of Venice, Charles sees that an opportunity can become a predicament not easily resolved.
The story is told in a series of flashbacks – hence Brideshead revisited. Some of the action takes place in Morocco, where Lady Marchmain sends Charles to bring Sebastian home. Some takes place in London, where Charles becomes a painter of note. Some happens on a large ship, and more happens again at Brideshead. And, of course, so much happens with all the characters.
The film is gorgeous to look at, boasts some fine acting performances, gives a vivid sense of England between the wars – so what’s not to like? Let’s start with the screenplay by Andrew Davies and Jeremy Brock. The novel is so rich and nuanced, its characters so complex, its view of human nature so penetrating that some of the dialogue seems radically simplified. Some of it doesn’t sound like Evelyn Waugh at all but more like a bludgeon pounding away at its point. Also, sometimes director Julian Jerrold (“Becoming Jane”) seems to fall asleep at the wheel. The climactic scene between Charles and Julia, which should be devastating, falls flat.
Still, “Brideshead Revisited” is one of the great stories of ambition, family dynamics, social class and religious faith. This version is much better than none at all.