BRIDESHEAD REVISITED
BRIDESHEAD REVISITED brings the novel by Evelyn Waugh to the big screen - shorter but richer that the 1981 serialized TV version. Brideshead is a palatial English country estate which is a touchstone for our protagonist Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode) but for its heirs it’s a prison and if it had a warden that would be Lady Marchmain (Emma Thompson) the family matriarch. Working class Charles is introduced to this late 1920’s uber-privileged lifestyle by Sebastian Flyte (Ben Winshaw) who befriends him as an Oxford freshman. Sebastian is clearly gay while Charles is at best curious but any attraction between them is nullified when Charles is smitten by Sebastian’s sister Julia (Hayley Atwell). Mom is a staunch Catholic living in denial of Sebastian’s predisposition but realizing that Charles is a steadying factor welcomes him to the fold and even sends Charles off to Venice with the two siblings to stay with their father Lord Marchmain (Michael Gambon) who fled his wife’s sanctimonious clutches and now frolics on the Lido with his mistress. In Italy the Charles/Julia connection solidifies which triggers a lifelong depression for Sebastian as he’s so in love with Charles. Even after the passing of their mother the ghost of her arch Catholicism comes to haunt every time Brideshead is revisited.