Brideshead revisited
Oct. 6th, 2008 01:17 pmOn Friday evening, sonic and I went to see Brideshead Revisited. Writing Evelyn Waugh so it has the right mix between humour and tragedy is always really difficult, even for, you know, Evelyn Waugh. Who's read Brideshead Revisited? I'd read a couple of other Waugh, but not that one.
The first third
The first third was really enjoyable. There is humour with astounding finesse; nothing that could be construed specifically as a joke, yet with the right turn of phrase or brief pause has the whole cinema giggling.
The last two-thirds
The last two-thirds were rather more top-heavy than I'd normally want to see on a Friday night. Although I think I was fortunate to be just at a point where I did appreciate the questions raised; Charles' love-hate relationship with Brideshead, and the Brideshead family's love-hate relationship with Catholicism, and that Charles has up to three epic romances in his twenties, chewing up Brideshead as much as it chews him up, and only when he's got to about thirty does he start to see it all in perspective, which is the end of the film.
Did I mention, it did flashbacks well, mainly by having a snippet at the start, and then replaying most of it at the appropriate point. This seems to work very well, since the difference between what you knew the first time, and what you know the second time, points up all of the important things.
The first third
The first third was really enjoyable. There is humour with astounding finesse; nothing that could be construed specifically as a joke, yet with the right turn of phrase or brief pause has the whole cinema giggling.
The last two-thirds
The last two-thirds were rather more top-heavy than I'd normally want to see on a Friday night. Although I think I was fortunate to be just at a point where I did appreciate the questions raised; Charles' love-hate relationship with Brideshead, and the Brideshead family's love-hate relationship with Catholicism, and that Charles has up to three epic romances in his twenties, chewing up Brideshead as much as it chews him up, and only when he's got to about thirty does he start to see it all in perspective, which is the end of the film.
Did I mention, it did flashbacks well, mainly by having a snippet at the start, and then replaying most of it at the appropriate point. This seems to work very well, since the difference between what you knew the first time, and what you know the second time, points up all of the important things.