The material is dated. With no real aristocracy around, we're left puzzled at the sympathetic portraits of a class of people who, yes, have problems just like the rest of us. The adaptation might have sharpened the role of dogma in today's world, but we're again puzzled (and a little impatient) at the clutch the Roman Catholic church holds over the family. While today's religious police are just as harmful, people can escape. Watching, we wonder, "Why don't you just leave?" And then one character does, but his damaged center seems to be about something other than the role of the church or his family (or even his sexuality). So I thought any impact is blunted because we have a difficult time relating to people's predicaments.
We do understand the central character's envelopment in the lives of people outside his class. His own father--in a very short scene at the beginning--sets up the hook the exotic Flyte family sinks, and Matthew Goode's portrayal of Charles Ryder is without a play for our sympathy nor does his attachment seem cynical or fortune seeking. All the Flytes show a genuine interest in him and he responds. The actor's poise is the same as Ryder's: He isn't either smart enough to know he's not an equal or his own convictions are stronger than the Roman Catholics he observes. His love of the extravagance of Brideshead is our own, and the film offers enough sumptuous scenery of the manor even though the entire film seems to suffer from budgetary restraint (the ship at sea is clearly a model, the Carnival scenes in Venice don't show its expanse, the costumes seem secondhand and don't fit anyone very well, etc.).
Emma Thompson is the sunniest of "Royal" British actresses, and while she's fine as Lady Marchmain, she doesn't convince us of her (1) aristocracy nor her (2) desperate religious convictions. She does make us understand her wanting to save her son from his alcoholism, but I never once thought she cared a whit about his soul. The role of Sebastian may be unplayable: Fey, a drunk, tortured by something unnamed and carrying a teddy bear...who could bring this off?
Matching Goode's performance as Julia, Haley Atwell is stupendous. When she and Goode's eyes meet we sit and wait for resolution of the sparks they set off. She reminded me of the young Glenda Jackson. But the esteemed Greta Scacchi as Cara (clearly the better choice to play Lady Marchmain) scores the most convincing portrayal in the film. Although brief, her warning to "tread carefully" sets up the only real drama in the entire film.
Whether or not you've seen the mini-series from the 1980's (only the snob would dismiss this quite worthwhile film), the drama that unfolds is far superior to last year's tedious and derivative "Atonement." While I don't think this film strikes the emotional chords that the film adaptation of another Waugh's work "A Handful of Dust" did (that film overcame many of the same outdated issues where this adaptation doesn't), it has little to apologize for and reminds us that society has evolved...even for the better.
We do understand the central character's envelopment in the lives of people outside his class. His own father--in a very short scene at the beginning--sets up the hook the exotic Flyte family sinks, and Matthew Goode's portrayal of Charles Ryder is without a play for our sympathy nor does his attachment seem cynical or fortune seeking. All the Flytes show a genuine interest in him and he responds. The actor's poise is the same as Ryder's: He isn't either smart enough to know he's not an equal or his own convictions are stronger than the Roman Catholics he observes. His love of the extravagance of Brideshead is our own, and the film offers enough sumptuous scenery of the manor even though the entire film seems to suffer from budgetary restraint (the ship at sea is clearly a model, the Carnival scenes in Venice don't show its expanse, the costumes seem secondhand and don't fit anyone very well, etc.).
Emma Thompson is the sunniest of "Royal" British actresses, and while she's fine as Lady Marchmain, she doesn't convince us of her (1) aristocracy nor her (2) desperate religious convictions. She does make us understand her wanting to save her son from his alcoholism, but I never once thought she cared a whit about his soul. The role of Sebastian may be unplayable: Fey, a drunk, tortured by something unnamed and carrying a teddy bear...who could bring this off?
Matching Goode's performance as Julia, Haley Atwell is stupendous. When she and Goode's eyes meet we sit and wait for resolution of the sparks they set off. She reminded me of the young Glenda Jackson. But the esteemed Greta Scacchi as Cara (clearly the better choice to play Lady Marchmain) scores the most convincing portrayal in the film. Although brief, her warning to "tread carefully" sets up the only real drama in the entire film.
Whether or not you've seen the mini-series from the 1980's (only the snob would dismiss this quite worthwhile film), the drama that unfolds is far superior to last year's tedious and derivative "Atonement." While I don't think this film strikes the emotional chords that the film adaptation of another Waugh's work "A Handful of Dust" did (that film overcame many of the same outdated issues where this adaptation doesn't), it has little to apologize for and reminds us that society has evolved...even for the better.