Review of Brideshead Revisited (2008) by Richard S — 09 Feb 2009

This is second rate, pulseless Merchant-Ivory material. It has all the hallmarks of a "classy" British period piece, but is too timid to really explore its subject matter. The promotional material suggests something akin to a cross between The Dreamers and the Melville adaptation of Les Enfants Terribles, but its content to be a predictable lamenting of a long gone era. They ramp up the gay subtext early on, but like the Catholicism and everything else of note, it is abandoned in favor of a Cliff's Notes approach whenever the filmmakers would be required to approach the issues on anything but a surface level.

It wasn't all bad. At least they managed to get the sister out of her Louise Brooks wig for the film's second half.