Brideshead Revisited: User Reviews

Movie Review: A Minded Eye-Filler
By BeautyEyeBeholder from Italian Village, July 31, 2008

Overall rating:

Clearly, you will not like Brideshead Revisited if you're someone who believes the epitome of entertainment is such movie as Superbad, There's something about Mary, Mean Girls, Meet the Parents, or Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.
You would be bored for not grasping here the delicacy and the many layers of emotional content this adaptation has to offer. You would not relate or even sympathize with the life of those on whom has been imposed rigid religious beliefs from as young as the nursery. You would not see the scars. You would not see the vastness of ramifications that makes someone who they are. You want a villain and a spotless hero. You want a manichean story with an easy side to rally for.
You will not find such ease in Brideshead Revisited. Everyone has a security blanket, in actions or inactions. No one is innocent. Everyone is different, with their own definition of what Good is to them. Yet everyone has to live with the consequences of their choices and the cage bars we all choose to set for ourselves. The writing by Andrew Davies and Jeremy Brock, based on Evelyn Waugh's novel, is just splendid, with substance, thoughtfulness, surely the best part for my taste. Emma Thompson and Greta Scacchi prove once more what remarkable actresses their are in their interpretation of their characters, in their understanding of human nature, reserves, conscience and pleasures. Matthew Goode is exceptionally well casted, with all the perception subtleties and propriety of a fine chap with artistic flair. And the set, costumes and art direction are rather stunning, with the soundtrack only adding beautifully to the overall delight.