Brideshead Revisited (2008)

Director:

Julian Jarrold

Writers:

Andrew Davies (written by) and
Jeremy Brock (written by) ...

Release Date:

25 July 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Love is not ours to control

Plot:

A poignant story of forbidden love and the loss of innocence set in England prior to the Second World War.

Plot Keywords:

England | Catholic | WWII | Military Officer | Alcoholism

Awards:

10 nominations

Cast

Matthew Goode	...	Charles Ryder
Thomas Morrison	...	Hooper
David Barrass	...	Ship's Barber
Anna Madeley	...	Celia Ryder
Sarah Crowden	...	Lady Guest
Stephen Carlile	...	English Lord
Peter Barnes	...	American Professor
Hayley Atwell	...	Julia Flyte
Patrick Malahide	...	Edward Ryder
Richard Teverson	...	Cousin Jasper
Joseph Beattie	...	Anthony Blanche
Ben Whishaw	...	Sebastian Flyte
Roger Walker	...	Lunt
Mark Field	...	Boy Mulcaster
Mark Edel-Hunt	...	Oxford Student

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some sexual content.

Runtime:

USA:133 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | UK:12A | Ireland:12A | Australia:PG | Netherlands:12 | Singapore:M18 | Denmark:A | New Zealand:M | Portugal:M/12 | Hong Kong:IIA | Finland:K-11 | Sweden:7

Filming Locations:

Art Deco Palm Court, Park Lane Hotel, Piccadilly, London, England, UK

Company:

2 Entertain

Trivia:

For the Oxford scenes, real Oxford students were recruited to play their 1920's counterparts. For the scene where Charles and Sebastian first meet, real members of the exclusive Bullingdon Club can be seen behind him wearing their traditional blazers. A few of them can also be seen in the luncheon scene that takes place the next day.

Goofs:

Factual errors: In Lord Marchmain's deathbed scene, Fr. Mackay imparts absolution while Charles Ryder and members of the family are in attendance. Absolution is never imparted in public in this way. The others would have been asked to step out. Moreover, the Latin form of the absolution given, although it is the correct traditional one, is badly mispronounced and contains several errors in the details of the Latin text.

Quotes:

[First Lines]
Charles Ryder: [Internal monologue while walking out of Brideshead Castle] If you'd asked me now who I am? The only answer I could give with any certainty would be my name: Charles Ryder. For the rest: My loves, my hates, down even to my deepest desires;I can no longer say whether these emotions are my own, or stolen from those others we desperately wish to be. On second thought; one emotion remains my own. Alone among the borrowed and the second-hand. As pure as that faith of which I'm still in flight:... Guild.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: (2008-07-26)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Rumba

It's not Brideshead Revisited

The greatness of the original Brideshead Revisited was in the luxury of being able to transpose a very complicated emotional and intellectual book into words. It succeeded in this, but only just, due to superb direction, photography and script which, even in its sparseness, only just allowed the successful transition to film. The problem with anything shorter is that, if it took Mortimer so many episodes to get it right, then there are very few writers who could even get near in under 4 hours, if that. So lets stop beating about the bush. This is a sound reproduction of the calender plot but after that it is not Brideshead Revisited. Call it by another name and I will laud it. It brings in a strong homosexual element and a early sexual attraction between Charles Ryder and Miss Flyte. With that everything becomes unbalanced. Motivations change. The beauty of the original is that it hinted at ????something (a je ne sais quoi) and it was that and the ever strengthening Catholic awareness of family that made this film so fascinating. The original's masterpiece was the script supported by the cine photography. That has been lost. But taken as is, a pretty and interesting film which seems to be loosely based on an early fifties work by Waugh.