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Brideshead Revisited / England / 1981

John Mortimer’s adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s novel is given a fine treatment in this three disc edition of the 1981 television mini-series. Jeremy Irons, Anthony Andrews, Diana Quick, Cair Bloom, Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud, among others, give great performances. The story involves a young English artist, Charles Ryder, played by Irons, who in his association with a wealthy English Catholic family, comes into adulthood between World Wars 1 and 2. While marvellously adapted, the film has a deceptively calm surface. Lurking beneath is anxiousness and despair that accompanied the world of the fading British aristocracy and the very unquiet twentieth century.

by Marlin Tyree | Source: Acorn Media DVD
08 Jun 2007 4:43 PM | Comments (2)

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1. Bridey / 11 June 2007 / 4:56 AM / URL

   Yes – the BBC adaptation is marvellous – very close to the novel. But what will Ecosse films do in their new production, which has just started shooting ? Compressing the story to 100mins will mean cutting a lot out.

2. Tyree / 13 June 2007 / 2:40 PM

   Thanks for the tip. I had no idea there was a another version in the works. Judging from the press release it sounds as if they’re cutting the Charles/Sebatian romance and highlighting of the Charles/Julia engagement. There’s a moment in the film/novel when Charles admits that the two siblings are in many ways the same person – each in the other – so to speak. The BBC production brings this out well. I did come away with the decided impression that Sebatian was Charles’ first and most powerful love. It might have been in the direction, but Julia (at least as performed by Diana Quick) was always overshadowed by Sebatian when the two were in the same room and, certainly, when they were in the same episodes. I suppose Julia’s looks and moral transgressions (her allure) made her story interesting to follow but her character, quite frankly, was as dull as dishwater. I suppose it was this that kept Charles so transfixed. It was such a welcome relief when, after Sebatian left the scene, Nickolas Grace as the character, Anthony Blanche, re-entered Charles’ life. I think he provides not only an outrageous counterpoint to the Brideshead’s solemnity but is always taking stock of Charles’ spiritual and artisitic life. I love that it’s never clear whether he engages Charles in these artistic conversations out of spite from an unrequited love or if he feels a true artistic kinship with him. He certainly speaks the one sentiment that comes closest to the truth about Charles’ artistic/spiritual progress and the world he adopts; that being, “English charm has killed you.”