BRIDESHEAD REVISITED

Director: Julian Jarrold
Cast: Matthew Goode, Hayley Atwell, Ben Whishaw, Emma Thompson, Michael Gambon
Run Time: 133 minutes
Country: United Kingdom
Year: 2008
Language: English
Rating: PG (Nudity, sexually suggestive scene)

Reviews: www.metacritic.com/film/titles/bridesheadrevisited

Official Site: www.bridesheadrevisited-themovie.com/

After creating such light-hearted crowd-pleasers as Kinky Boots and Becoming Jane, Julian Jarrold is back with a remarkable feature film venturing into more dramatic territory. Epic in scope, Brideshead Revisited explores ideas of love, class, religion and other themes sure to leave the viewer with much to think about.

Based on Evelyn Waugh’s 1945 classic novel, the film tells the story of young artist Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode, Match Point, The Lookout) and his complex love affair with the aristocratic Flyte family. After Charles meets Sebastian Flyte (Ben Whishaw, Layer Cake, I’m Not There) during his first year at Oxford, the two boys quickly develop a deep friendship. When Sebastian takes his new friend to the Flyte family home, the eponymous Brideshead manse, Charles develops an immediate love for the place and for Sebastian’s sister Julia (Hayley Atwell, How About You, The Shadow in the North). The story continues across the span of years, chronicling the complex relationships that form between Charles, Sebastian, Julia, the staunchly Catholic Flyte matriarch, Lady Marchmain (Emma Thompson, Love Actually, Stranger Than Fiction), and the free-spirited Flyte patriarch, Lord Marchmain (Michael Gambon, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Good Shepherd). Above all, however, it is the relationship between Charles and Julia, one defined by unrequited love, that haunts and ultimately casts a spell on the viewer. The film also evocatively explores how religion can play a crucial role in both fostering and destroying relationships, and how faith is not something that can easily be replaced once it has been questioned.

Jarrold brings a brilliant subtlety to his adaptation of this classic British novel, using flashbacks and flash-forwards to weave an astonishing portrait of human trial. With excellent performances from the entire ensemble cast, Brideshead Revisited is sure to win the hearts of all who see it.

“You have to admire the way [Brideshead Revisited] refrains from seizing the day for a postmodern lecture on the perils of fundamentalism, and confines itself to the disturbing vision of Evelyn Waugh.” – Ella Taylor, The Village Voice

 

 

Fall 2008 Film Schedule Sept 8 - BEFORE THE RAINS Sept 22 - WHEN DID YOU LAST SEE YOUR FATHER? Oct 6 - THE FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON Oct 20 - BRICK LANE Nov 10 - MY BROTHER IS AN ONLY CHILD Nov 24 - I SERVED THE KING OF ENGLAND Dec 8 - THE DUCHESS Jan 12 - HAPPY-GO-LUCKY Jan 26 - BRIDESHEAD REVISITED Feb 9 - I’VE LOVED YOU SO LONG Feb 23 - FROZEN RIVER Mar 23 - THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES Apr 6 - LAST CHANCE HARVEY Apr 20 - WENDY AND LUCY May 4 - THE CLASS May 25 - PARIS June 8 - WALTZ WITH BASHIR June 22 - CHERRY BLOSSOMS