Review of Brideshead Revisited (2008) by Chatvarin L — 12 Apr 2011

Certainly lush and beautiful. Based on the Granada TV series I surmise that this is also pretty faithful an adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's novel, with plenty of important dialogues from that series making an appearance in some slightly rewritten form.

I think its limitation was its very own chosen format; it's just not long enough. As such it had to make the Charles-Sebastian part of the story a smaller part of the main Charles-Julia story as it were. It didn't fail exactly; it is the only way to compress the material properly. But the Charles-Sebastian story is the novel's enduring image for a reason; so much underplayed the film never portrays why Brideshead should matter SO much. Why should Sebastian run away, why should Lord Marchmain have fled, and why his return is so critical to the issues novelized? All these lost much of their intricacy: the intricacy intrinsic in the religious quandary, difficult, subtle and nuanced, at the heart of the story.

All the same it did so very well; if I can rewatch this easily in spite of the obvious shortfalls that were all too patent. Too bad the remit of two hours left both Emma Thompson and Michale Gambon underused, depriving us of so much depth and drama.