Brideshead Revisited

An English film reaching back to the 1930s. Charles is the son of a middle-class family. At Oxford he meets Sebastian, a young man who is wealthy, charming and always drinking. Charles enters his world. Sebastian takes him to his family's house, a great estate called Brideshead. The house, the family and the church are one thing; the mother, Lady Marchmain, is a strict Catholic and arranges everything accordingly. There Charles also meets Sebastian's sister Julia. The narrative spreads over years. Sebastian sinks further into drink and breaks from the family; Julia marries; Charles becomes a painter and keeps his tie to both. The subject at the centre is faith: every member of the family wants out of the church and none can leave. Charles watches from outside and understands none of it. The source is Evelyn Waugh's novel. It had been made before as a long television series; this film fits the story into two hours and shortens some lines. Matthew Goode plays Charles, Ben Whishaw plays Sebastian, Hayley Atwell plays Julia and Emma Thompson the mother. Julian Jarrold directed. It was shot at a real estate, with the Venice and Morocco sections filmed on location. A suitable choice for anyone who likes period drama and literary adaptation. For a viewer who knows the book, the film shortens the argument the novel builds about religion.