Product Description

Inspired by the best-selling novel, Brideshead Revisited is a riveting drama of forbidden love, power and betrayal, featuring stunning performances by Academy Award winner Emma Thompson (Best Actress, Howard s End, 1992) and Matthew Goode (The Lookout). When the charming aristocrat Sebastian invites Charles Ryder to his family's estate, Charles becomes seduced by the opulent lifestyle of the Marchmain family, and by Julia, Sebastian's sister. As their romance deepens, repercussions follow, and Charles discovers that at Brideshead, love, money and power come at a price. It's a spellbinding story you'll want to revisit again and again. Bonus Features include Deleted Scenes
Filmmakers' Audio Commentary
The World Of Brideshead Featurette

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6269 in DVD
• Brand: BUENA VISTA HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2009-01-13
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 133 minutes

Features

• Inspired by the best-selling novel, BRIDESHEAD REVISITED is a riveting drama of love, power and betrayal, featuring stunning performances by Academy Award(R) winner Emma Thompson (Best Actress, HOWARDS END, 1992) and Matthew Goode (THE LOOKOUT). When the charming aristcrat Sebastian invites Charles Ryder to his family's estate, Charles becomes seduced by the opulent lifestyle of the Marchmain fami

Amazon.com
For director Julian Jarrold (Becoming Jane), this sumptuous production represents a two-fold challenge: taking on a classic novel and a celebrated television production (Brideshead Revisited premiered on PBS in 1982). Thankfully, he's up to the task. Adapted by Andrew Davies (Pride and Prejudice) and Jeremy Brock (Mrs. Brown), Evelyn Waugh's 1945 text tracks the hard-won maturation of artist-turned-soldier Charles Ryder (Match Point's Matthew Goode). At the optimistic outset, the middle-class striver enters Oxford where he meets Sebastian Flyte (Perfume's Ben Whishaw), black-sheep scion of the Catholic Marchmain clan. Through his hedonistic friend, Ryder gets to know Flyte's sister, Julia (Hayley Atwell), and the dynamic changes. Were this a Jane Austen adaptation, Ryder's financial shortcomings would present the biggest obstacle, but the indomitable Lady Marchmain (Emma Thompson, cast against type) concentrates her disapproval on Ryder's atheism. Sebastian, on the other hand, wants Charles for himself; his drinking accelerates once he realizes Ryder loves Julia more. As World War I gives way to II, Ryder tangles with the Marchmains until forced to choose between freedom and compromise. In the end, comparing a two-hour movie to a 12-hour series makes as much sense as comparing a drawing to a sculpture. Both qualify as art, but one reveals more dimensions than the other. Like the series, Jarrold's narrative loses some steam once the focus shifts from Sebastian to Julia, but Goode's deft performance as Charles Ryder is just as riveting as that of Jeremy Irons before him. --Kathleen C. Fennessy


Stills from Brideshead Revisited (Click for larger image)

Review
Plush and passionate and graced with elegant performances. Best is that of Emma Thompson as Brideshead's matriarch... - Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer
Clever writing, strong performances and sumptuous production design make for a rich experience - Claudia Puig, USA Today
Offers lush and compelling drama drawn from Evelyn Waugh's beloved novel. - Dennis Harvey, Variety
Often powerful, though presented throughout with British understatement.-Lawrence Toppman, Charlotte Observer --National Reviews

Customer Reviews

Brideshead, Revisited With Reservations
Any film of Brideshead Revisited will inevitably be compared with the 1981 mini-series, and will suffer from the comparison. Evelyn Waugh's novel was so rich and detailed that any attempt to depict it in a mere 2 hours or so will be wanting. I am a fan of the mini-series, which I have watched countless times, and I want to make it clear that there are many things about this version that I find very appealing: the use of Castle Howard, the fine acting by Michael Gambon, Emma Thompson, Hayley Atwell, Ben Whishaw, and Matthew Goode, and the beautiful sets and costumes.

Unfortunately the need to compress the story distorts much of what Evelyn Waugh intended. By making the love affairs between Charles Ryder and Sebastian and Julia Flyte occur nearly simultaneously instead of Charles first loving Sebastian and then years later falling in love with Julia, Waugh's message of spiritual and emotional growth is blunted. More troubling is the lack of positive emphasis on Christianity and Roman Catholicism. Whereas in the book and the mini-series Lady Marchmain is a tragic, sympathetic figure, the film emphasizes her hauteur and coldness. This has larger immplications than just a difference in interpretation, since Lady Marchmain in large part represents the Church. Furthermore, I am especially disappointed by the ending. In the book and mini-series we see an affirmation of both new and enduring faith, while the film is far more equivocal.

Despite these reservations, I do value this film and intend to watch it many times. While Waugh himself would be horrified over some of the modifications (he would call them distortions), this new interpretation of his work is beautiful in its own right, and its ambiguities are a challenge which allows us to re-examine our own beliefs.

You don't want to revisit this Brideshead
When I first heard of this film I found it hard to imagine how anyone could succeed in cramming the complex narrative of Brideshead Revisited into the 120 minute format that seems to be the norm for cinema these days, maybe as a favour to audiences suffering from attention deficit disorder. Still, I didn't expect much from Pride & Prejudice the movie, yet found myself enjoying that pretty well, so I took my chances with Brideshead too. But this time the experience was rather less satisfying, to put it mildly.

For someone familiar with the large, intricate, subtly tinted canvases of Waugh's book and the phenomenal TV-series, this is like seeing a hasty copy executed in crude strokes and garish colours. Within 20 minutes from the start Charles and Sebastian aren't just friends, they actually appear to be lovers. The gay thing is plastered on way too thick and goes far beyond anything suggested by Waugh. The way the storyline is distorted, it makes it seems as if Sebastian starts drinking out of frustration over Charles's rejection of him in favour of his sister Julia. This is a result of the extreme conflation of elements from Waugh's story, which uproots its refined psychological dynamics. Indeed, subtlety is nowhere to be found; the Flytes in this movie are a pretty vulgar bunch, and Sebastian's Oxford circle too has none of the aristocratic manners and sophisticated wit we would expect from them.

There are in this film many more scenes that made me cringe than in any movie I recently watched: the Flytes gathering around a statue of the Virgin Mary, singing the Salve Regina; Lady Marchmain coming to the house of Charles's father and throwing an emotional scene; all appearances of Anthony Blanch, period (mercifully limited to only two); Charles buying Julia from Mottram for a few paintings; Sebastian making a scene at his sister's coming out ball; et cetera.

The casting doesn't help. Matthew Goode is a likeable Charles Ryder, but way too mature and confident, with the added problem of him being rather more handsome than Sebastian, who is played by the gaunt, scary-looking Ben Wishaw. Wishaw completely misses out on the complicated combination of superiority and vulnerability in Sebastian's deeply troubled character, indeed, seems to spend most of his screentime throwing fond looks at Charles (which is just about the reverse of what happens in the original story). Hayley Atwell's Julia lacks any sense of grandeur or style, and is reduced to little more than a petulant schoolgirl; I couldn't for the life of me imagine why Charles would fall in love with her, there is no chemistry at all between the characters. I'm sure Emma Thompson could have made something wonderful out of Lady Marchmain had she been given the right lines, but alas; here she is just a gorgon, who, like others characters too, may surprise you by suddenly going psychotherapist, explaining to Charles that he is so desperate to be liked. None of the subtle emotional blackmail that Claire Bloom so masterfully weaved into her performance in the series. Most other characters could have been dispensed with altogether; with their organic ties to the story severed, figures like Blanche, Ryder's father, Boy Mulcaster, cousin Jasper, Cordelia, Samgrass, or Celia make mere token appearances.

So what you are left with is a bunch of fairly good-looking, nicely dressed people cavorting in attractive surroundings. No cliché is spared. We don't just go to Venice, no, of course it has to be the Carnival and the Lido. Castle Howard is always a pleasure to look at but hardly an original choice (and I don't understand by the life of me why everybody is constantly arriving at and departing from the garden front - maybe so as not to disturb the business of tourism? We do not once see the other side. The house was used much more fully in the TV-series.) Surprisingly, the series despite its 4:3 ratio generally has a far more cinematic feel to it than this film, which often looks made-for-TV. No doubt some will argue that such comparisons are unfair and the film should be judged on its own merits alone; I disagree. Right up to the final scene, the entire point of Waugh's story is lost. Anyone who films the work of a great author takes on a responsibility towards that work, and the makers of this film have definitely failed in that regard, i.e., they just mangled it.

Brideshead Absentis
Having read Waugh's classic on the "tugs" of faith and watched the original mini-series more times then I remember over almost thirty years now, I seriously doubted this story could be condensed into two hours. A last, I was not disappointed! It wasn't the same story. The movie twists and turns in directions never written by Waugh. (Sadly as Andrew Davies, one of the films writers, has done excellent work over the years.) This, however, is not another version of Brideshead Revisted but a new creation; a creation built more on pretty scenery and anti-climatic moments lost to all depth of the characters.

The underlying issues of faith and religious up-bringing are totally lost, spun into a broad statement about Catholicism rather then its personal meaning to individual lives. The central message of the book has been stripped to a minor secondary theme. The faith journey is lost.

Charles' relationship with Sebastian is dumbed down to mere sexual experimentation rather then human bond. This Charles would never carry his feelings for Sebastian throughout his life. Without the former, you cannot truly grasp the latter relationship with Julia. The relationships are separate not concurrent, they are paths on his journey to faith. Sadly the desire and depth of Charles and Julia's relationship, so strongly captured in the mini-series "Orphans of the Storm" episode, is totally lost here. In this, their reunion seems more like a 3AM quickie.

Take the $20 you planned on spending for this, add another $20 and buy the mini-series instead. The larger investment returns so much more....so much more!