Brideshead Revisited (2008)

Though director Julian Jarrold's adaptation of the Evelyn Waugh novel BRIDESHEAD REVISITED spans decades and continents, it's a taut film that never drags and can excite contemporary audiences. Matthew Goode (MATCH POINT) stars as lower-class Londoner Charles Ryder, an aspiring artist who is beginning his studies in history at Oxford in the 1920s. A chance encounter with dandyish aristocrat Sebastian Flyte (Ben Whishaw, PERFUME) changes the course of his life. The two embark on a close, intense friendship that is further complicated by the introduction of Sebastian's beautiful sister Julia (Hayley Atwell, CASSAND...
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RA'S DREAM) and his overbearing, extremely religious mother, Lady Marchmain (Emma Thompson). BRIDESHEAD REVISITED follows Charles from the carefree '20s through the beginning of World War II, focusing on his complicated relationship with the upper-class family and their estate, Brideshead.

Along with ATONEMENT's Joe Wright, Jarrold (BECOMING JANE) represents a new era of British period filmmaking. Both men bring a modern sensibility to their work that makes their films feel fresh and sexy, though they never lose authenticity. Jarrold employs some handheld camera work and quick-cut editing in BRIDESHEAD REVISITED, two techniques that separate his film from others in the genre. Fans of the book--and the 11-hour 1981 miniseries--may bristle at the film's relatively brief running time, but screenwriters Andrew Davies (the BBC classic PRIDE AND PREJUDICE) and Jeremy Brock (THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND) have distilled the story into the essentials. BRIDESHEAD REVISITED deftly works with the conflicts of class, religion, and desire and, with its artful costumes and gorgeous settings, is essential viewing for fans of the genre.
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Evelyn Waugh's classic novel of love and the British class system has been given a polished screen adaptation in this film version from director Julian Jarrold. Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode) was raised in a middle-class household and though he's never known want and is fortunate enough to have been accepted into Oxford, the life of the upper class is foreign to him. While serving in the British Army during the waning days of World War II, Charles is assigned to a temporary base set up on the estate of the wealthy and aristocratic Flyte family, where he strikes up a friendship with twentysomething Lord Sebastian (...
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Ben Whishaw). Sebastian enjoys the pleasures his privileged life has afforded him, but he also senses that something is missing, and he tries to drown his frequent episodes of depression in alcohol. Charles is captivated by the splendor of Sebastian's life, and he finds himself drawn into a web of decadent comfort, while also developing an infatuation with Sebastian's sister, Julia (Hayley Atwell), even as Charles senses his relationship with Sebastian is something deeper than simple friendship. The idyllic days at the Flyte estate come to an end with the arrival of Sebastian's mother, Lady Marchmain (Emma Thompson), a fierce Catholic who objects to her son's free and easy life and has become increasingly bitter since her husband, Lord Marchmain (Michael Gambon), has left her to live in Italy with the lovely Cara (Greta Scacchi). This was the first cinema adaptation of Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, though it was the basis of an acclaimed miniseries produced for British television in 1981.
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Op de universiteit van Oxford ontmoet Charles Ryder bij toeval Sebastian Flyte, zoon van Lord Marchmain. Ze raken bevriend en Sebastian nodigt Charles uit voor een bezoek aan het familielandgoed: Brideshead Castle. Daar wordt Charles bij binnenkomst bedwelmd door de extravagantie en luxe van de Britse high society. Maar eenmaal gewend aan zijn nieuwe omgeving merkt hij dat behalve veel geld en een titel, de Marchmains de nodige complexe familieproblemen hebben. Hij raakt verstrikt in het tragische lot van deze familie.

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