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Hayley Atwell, Ben Whishaw, Matthew Goode, Emma Thompson, Michael Gambon ... see more see more... , Greta Scacchi , Jonathan Cake , Patrick Malahide , Thomas Morrison , David Barrass , Anna Madeley , Sarah Crowden , Stephen Carlile , Peter Barnes , Richard Teverson

Evelyn Waugh's classic novel of love and the British class system has been given a polished screen adaptation in this film version from director Julian Jarrold. The tale opens during WWII, when Charle... read more read more...s Ryder (Matthew Goode), an English military officer, is stationed at a country estate that has been converted into a military base. Jarrold uses this time-frame and setting as a framing device, and then flashes back in time to Charles' days as a scholar in the 1920s. It becomes clear that he was raised in a middle-class household; though he was fortunate enough to have been accepted into Oxford, he doesn't belong to the British upper crust. At Oxford, Charles strikes up a friendship with twentysomething Lord Sebastian (Ben Whishaw). Charles is captivated by the splendor of Sebastian's life at his family's Brideshead Castle, and he finds himself drawn into a web of decadent comfort. For Sebastian, though, the familial estate represents a prison from which he longs to escape, and in desperation, he hits the bottle. Charles develops an infatuation with Sebastian's sister, Julia (Hayley Atwell), but also senses that his bond with Sebastian may be something far deeper than simple friendship. Also present at Brideshead is Sebastian and Julia's mother, Lady Marchmain (Emma Thompson), an ice water-veined woman still reeling from her abandonment some time prior at the hands of her husband. Though bitter, the matriarch perceives Charles as an emotional anchor for the increasingly unstable Sebastian, and therefore suggests that Charles join Sebastian and Julia on a trip to see their father (Michael Gambon) and his mistress (Greta Scacchi) in Venice. Unfortunately, the romantic bond between Charles and Julia deepens, which threatens to destroy Sebastian. This feature constitutes the second major version of Brideshead Revisited to reach viewers; an earlier, 11-hour miniseries adaptation ran on television in 1981. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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PG-13, 2 hr. 14 min.

Directed by: Julian Jarrold

Release Date: July 25, 2008

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DVD Release Date: January 13, 2009

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Emma Thompson in "Brideshead Revisited" (2008) Matthew Goode in "Brideshead Revisited" (2008) Ben Whishaw in "Brideshead Revisited" (2008) Hayley Atwell in "Brideshead Revisited" (2008) Brideshead Revisited Brideshead Revisited Brideshead Revisited Brideshead Revisited Brideshead Revisited James Bradshaw in "Brideshead Revisited" (2008) Brideshead Revisited Brideshead Revisited Brideshead Revisited Brideshead Revisited Charles, Sebastian & Julia Brideshead Revisited Brideshead Revisited Brideshead Revisited
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Flixster Reviews (1,372)

  • blacksheepboy
    May 11, 2010
    blacksheepboy
    Not spectacular, but an interesting drama with good performances and a strong story about family, religion and faith that may leave you thinking about it long after the film is over.
  • jjnxn
    April 17, 2010
    jjnxn
    Dull, slow moving but visually beautiful. Uncharismatic leads are blown off the screen whenever Emma Thompson is on, displaying her range by playing a markedly different character than usual and as always doing it masterfully. Once she's gone from the scene its just pretty pictur... read morees with people you neither really like or care about.
  • smith44
    December 29, 2009
    smith44
    Gruesome Hatchet Job of My Favourite Novel. "Utterly Macarbe".
  • mwilliams078
    February 26, 2009
    mwilliams078
    Brideshead Revisited is a lovely period piece drama set in 1920's UK. The very talented actress Emma Thopmson palys the matriarch of a very wealthy family whom owns Brideshead. A young msn named Chrales Ryder becomes friends with the son of this family and quickly gets entangled ... read morein the intrique of this family and home. This movie is worthy of seeing. A very well suited cast and well done by all.
  • SarahG1988
    October 26, 2008
    SarahG1988
    Year: 2008
    Director: Julian Jarrold
    Country: UK
    Genre: Drama
    Stars: Emma Thompson, Matthew Goode, Hayley Atwell, Ben Whishaw

    Based on Evelyn Waugh's 1945 classic British novel, Brideshead Revisited is a poignant story of forbidden love an... read mored the loss of innocence set in England prior to the Second World War.

    2008 is almost drawing to a close and my next film to watch at the cinema was Brideshead Revisited. A film which was a re-working of a TV series and a novel. Both I haven?t seen, so I went into the film with a relatively open mind. Read many negative reviews, commenting on the lack of plot and one which is slightly constrained in it. To be perfectly honest I seemed to have watched a different film entirely to many people. Brideshead Revisited is a brilliant film indeed and wonderfully made.

    The film opens up with Charles?s narration, which is the centre of the film. With beautiful opening in World war 2, giving us an indication of what's to come. Perhaps there could have been more emphasises on Charles?s background as a soldier, little more about his personality after everything at Brideshead and him as an older man. Perhaps that could have given us as audience a little more to work with, in terms of adding meaning to his character and working out what kind of a man he is now. I would also like to have seen more build up to his relationship with Sebastian and Julia, giving us time to understand each character better. But for some unknown reason the fact that wasn?t done works and becomes a very enjoyable film.

    Acting, In Brideshead Revisited is perhaps one of the strong points of the film. Emma Thompsons excels as lady Marchmain, with enough repression and awkward expressions to create a great performance. Most likely she?ll be considered for an Oscar in January?s nominations and no doubt receive a BAFA nomination this year. Ben Whishaw was absolutely marvellous to watch as Sebastian Flyte, totally different to roles that I have seen him in and hopefully more to come. I hope he gets some kind of recognition at the BAFTAS this year, perhaps a best actor nomination but he?ll probably most likely get unnoticed. Matthew Goode seems to me to be the perfect actor for the role, who is just an absolute delight to watch on screen. I hope to see more of him in future roles. Also worth mentioning Michael Gambon as Lord Marchaim in a supporting role.

    The film draws upon class very slightly. As Sebastian?s family draws in the middle class Charles into an awkward world of the Marchmains? Catholic faith. Charles soon learns of the Marchmain?s faith almost eating many of the films up insider, so to speak. Sebastian?s constant drinking is a reflection of strong Catholic upbringing that he and Sister Julia had. The film depicts the downside of faith that can happen, often not depicted in many films.

    More to follow......
  • aliceinpunderland
    September 13, 2008
    aliceinpunderland
    Sensual and scandalous. Goode, Wishaw, and Atwell are captivating! A little long, but religious themes are nicely done...I guess.
  • flickfever
    August 16, 2008
    flickfever
    This was a stand-out film in terms of production value. The story is all-too-familiar for those who are acquainted with the characters from the PBS series...but the lush production mounted and filmed is worth the trip to the cinema.

    Much like last year's Atonement, Brideshead Re... read morevisited relies heavily on its countryside palacial scope of its setting. Sumptuous cinematography, costume design and lighting all make for a very beautiful picture.

    On the acting side, all are respectable--but it's Emma Thompson who really stands out as the iron-fisted matron of Brideshead. Her disdain oozes with every back-handed compliment or shred of seemingly civil dialogue spoken by her character.

    The story of unrequited love-lost is classic and plays out like a typical Merchant Ivory epic--although this technically isn't one.

    Definitely worth seeing on the big screen. A solid period piece despite its sad attempt to market it as something more contemporary and along the lines of a cheesy sequel to Cruel Intentions. That it is, most definitely, not.
  • hobster1
    August 1, 2008
    hobster1
    Beautifully filmed and acted, pre-WWII drama about the eccentricities of the young British aristocracy. Evelyn Waugh's acclaimed novel is nicely condensed, and will hold your attention throughout.
  • dunmyer
    July 29, 2008
    dunmyer
    [size=3]I must confess, I have not read Evelyn Waugh's 1945 novel "Brideshead Revisited" nor have I seen the legendary television mini-series based on it. Thus I attended director [b]Julian Jarrold[/b]'s new feature-film adaptation as a Brideshead virgin. My conclusion: I don't k... read morenow what all the fuss has been about.[/size]

    [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/67/Brideshead_revisited.jpg[/img]

    [size=3]I found the film, starring [b]Ben Whishaw[/b] as a gay libertine cast out of the British aristocracy and [b]Emma Thompson[/b] as his authoritarian mother, to be not much more than soap opera. It reeks of television, and not the best television of the year. (Jarrold is a long-time television director who began directing feature films only a few years ago. Once a TV director always a TV director, I suppose.) [/size]

    [size=3]There are elements that hint at how much better the film could have been, especially the performance from Whishaw, which at times has very rich, deep resonances. But every other performance, particularly the painfully shallow one from co-star [b]Matthew Goode [/b]as the aristocrat's bourgeois love interest, is television-thin. Even Ms. Thompson is two-dimensional as the icy matron. [/size]

    [size=3]It would be a compliment to say that Goode's performance was two-dimensional; I'd describe it as zero-dimensional. Not for a second did I understand why his character was drawn to the ultra-fey aristocrat. Either Goode is incapable of exhibiting passion, or he got terrible advice from the director. Later in the film, Goode's character shifts his attention to the aristocrat's sister; here again he's as cold as a fish. Goode is just horrendous.[/size]

    [size=3]In one of the most brutally hilarious turns of phrase I've seen in a movie review this year, A.O. Scott writes the following of Goode: "Mr. Goode shows all the charisma of a stalk of boiled asparagus molded into the likeness of Jeremy Irons." Irons originated the role in the 1980s mini-series. [/size]
    [size=3][Quote from New York Times, July 25.][/size]

    [img]http://stylebubble.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/05/02/bhscreenshot2.jpg[/img]

    [size=3]I'm certain that the novel was revolutionary in its time, brazenly defying the rule that homosexuality was never to be mentioned. But homophobia has been so thoroughly undermined since then, that such content now is more quaint than defiant. Contemporary filmmakers have no difficulty depicting old-time racism in a way that captures the terror. But depictions of old-time homophobia always seem oddly faint, like a dream we can only vaguely remember. The drama does not come through. It certainly does not in this version of "Brideshead."[/size]

    [size=3]But homophobia is not the core of the story. Whishaw's character, Sebastian, is not just terrorized because he's gay. He's at odds with his mother in all sorts of ways. Sebastian's heterosexual sister (played adequately by [b]Hayley Atwell[/b]) is also tormented by the mother, and the sister's life is destroyed almost as completely as Sebastian's. The root of the problem is Mum's tyrannical approach to everything. [/size]

    [img]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/graphics/2008/05/29/ftbrides129.jpg[/img]

    [size=3]For some strange reason, Waugh made the mother an arch-Catholic, and Catholicism plays a central role in the story (at least it does in this film version). Every time the mother's religious devotion is brought up, the audience is reminded that she's not just a Christian but a [i]Catholic[/i] Christian. The word "Catholic" appears almost 50 times in the screenplay, and each time it was uttered I winced. I could not understand the point of continually drawing attention to the [i]denomination[/i] to which the mother subscribed. I felt I was watching a 1930s film about Jews. Catholics are presented as a strange type of person set apart from others -- their own species.[/size]

    [size=3]From what I've read, Waugh actually converted to Catholicism, which surprises me because the screenplay reads like an anti-Catholic screed. Waugh perhaps had as much strange psychological baggage bound up with religion as Mel Gibson does today. That would no doubt interest Waugh's psychoanalyst, but it doesn't make the man's fiction interesting. It makes it strange and overwrought (like Gibson's movies).[/size]

    [size=3]Putting the weird Catholic theme aside, perhaps the suffocating emotional quality of this family was intended to be a metaphor for the dying out of Britain's aristocracy and the complete triumph of the bourgeoisie, with Goode's character representing the upper middle class. If so, that kind of symbolism strikes me as thick and ponderous. It doesn't say much to me about life or history. Perhaps in more talented hands than Julian Jarrold's it might have.[/size]

    [size=3]I for the most part put my disappointments aside while watching the film and tried just to enjoy the soap opera, which was engaging. (Will Sebastian ever find love? Will he come back to England before his mother dies?) I also reveled in t[/size][size=3]he gorgeousness of the production. The costumes are other-worldly, and the great mansion where much of the film was shot will give you goose bumps. It made me dream of the 18th century. [/size]

    [size=3]************************[/size]

    [size=3]The most meaningful thing about this film by far is [b]Ben Whishaw[/b], whom I first saw in the wildly innovative and terribly overlooked "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer" (2006). Whishaw recently completed filming on a project where he plays Romantic poet John Keats opposite Abbie Cornish, another stunning new talent. The film's tentative title is "Bright Star" and was directed by Jane Campion ("The Piano"). It is due for a 2009 release. I cannot wait for it.[/size]
  • gator681
    November 24, 2009
    gator681
    "Brideshead Revisited" starts in the 1920's as Charles Ryder(Matthew Goode) attends Oxford University as a first year history student. His cousin Jasper(Richard Teverson) gives him a tour around campus, informs him of the social rules and advises him to move his room from the gr... read moreound floor. At which point, if on cue, Sebastian Flyte(Ben Whishaw) barges in and vomits on his floor. He apologizes profusely and he and Charles become good friends quickly, Sebastian even taking his poorer friend to the family home, Brideshead, for a quick visit. As they are leaving, Charles glances at Sebastian's sister Julia(Hayley Atwell) for a second. Ten years later, Charles will be a successful painter, encountering Julia while returning from abroad.

    "Brideshead Revisited" is an engaging, well-photographed and handsomely produced period piece. Surprisingly, the emphasis is not on class divisions, as Charles and Sebastian both have trouble fitting in with their respective families. What it comes down to is religion but not a specific belief system, just the severity of it, for there is a good deal of difference between the Catholicism practiced by Sebastian's mother(Emma Thompson) and the looser version observed in Italy. Even Brideshead cannot escape this influence, as it reminds me of a beautifully decorated mausoleum which would explain why the Flyte children thrive once they are away from it, especially considering Sebastian's attraction to other men. And the Flyte household is not the only inflexible entity, as Charles' atheism can be just as bad as any religious belief.

    Note: I should mention that I have not seen the 1981 miniseries of the same name. Maybe when I retire...

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Critic Reviews

Amy Biancolli
August 1, 2008
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle

What's missing from Goode's performance and from the film as whole is the layer upon layer of accumulated motive -- the gradual evolution of a man's complex desires and even-more-complicated fears. Full Review

Bill Goodykoontz
July 31, 2008
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic

If you're in the market for a veddy British drama and miss seeing Emma Thompson in her natural environment, Brideshead Revisited is a worthwhile two-hour meditation on faith (and the lack thereof). Full Review

Richard Roeper
July 28, 2008
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper

Yes, it's a compressed version, but I found it very enjoyable.

Joe Morgenstern
July 25, 2008
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

If it's a choice between the movie's 135 minutes or the 659 minutes of the miniseries, I'd say it's no choice at all. The shorter version is the one that seems long. Full Review

Claudia Puig
July 25, 2008
Claudia Puig, USA Today

The saga ultimately lacks the emotional wallop of the TV version. But its clever writing, strong performances and sumptuous production design make for a rich experience nonetheless. Full Review

Susan Walker
July 25, 2008
Susan Walker, Toronto Star

Director Julian Jarrold and writers Jeremy Brock and Andrew Davies have not surpassed their predecessors, but neither have they done any lasting damage with their interpretation of the 1945 novel. Full Review

David Wiegand
July 25, 2008
David Wiegand, San Francisco Chronicle

A very noble movie, which makes it interesting at times, but not often enough. Full Review

Louis Bayard
July 25, 2008
Louis Bayard, Salon.com

Even clothed in linen and flannel and tweed, the absurdities of Brideshead Revisited can never be entirely hidden. Full Review

Stephen Whitty
July 25, 2008
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

Thompson (and another great veteran, Michael Gambon, who shows up as her estranged husband) and Waugh's wit are reason enough to revisit this Brideshead. Full Review

Kyle Smith
July 25, 2008
Kyle Smith, New York Post

[Feels] like a lot of other costume dramas. The phrase Brideshead Regurgitated creeps into mind. Full Review

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    • Sebastian Flyte: I should like to bury something precious, in every place I've been happy. And then when I was old, and ugly and miserable, I could come back, and dig it up, and remember.
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