Brideshead Revisited

"Brideshead Revisited." I can only imagine how good the book must be. For a story so filled with longing, the movie could only hint at much of the complexity behind it. The cruelty inflicted on its two main characters -- a brother and a sister -- was mostly felt, and not seen. Their fear, the vulnerability in their eyes, might have been inspired by a man with a dagger hiding behind the curtain, and not a rigidly Catholic, tyrannical mother. Emma Thompson did have her moments.

She blew up the screen when she had the opportunity. Still, some will say it was not enough, that it was difficult to believe the Flyte siblings' upbringing was enough to bring them to such a state of misery. But the movie didn't have time to show everything. It had to give more time to the boy, Sebastian. We had to be interested in him especially, primarily to capture our attention and to begin the narrative - to bring the narrator into his world. We along with the narrator had to be entranced. Ben Whishaw, who is he? I've never seen him before. But he definitely got my attention! He made Sebastian so funny, and pathetic, so lovely, and fragile, so frightened and courageous -- What a performance.

I was told this was a snoozefest. It wasn't. The narrator, much like Nick Carraway in Gatsby, might be called boring I suppose. But he is irrelevant. He's an entry point. The story has something in common with Gatsby, actually. We want like the narrator to have an entry into the magical lives of the more "fortunate." Of course, the price of admission in this case is exposure to their suffering and self-loathing. We have to watch the beautiful princes and princesses fall down, one by one.

But on the way we can dance at dawn in their sculptured gardens, splash around in their sparkling fountains, sample their thousands of enchanted wines, and fall in love.

The story was rich, with characters you wanted to spend more time with, and whose history you would have liked to know more intimately. A perfect movie? No. But it makes you feel things. Desire, shame, and a creeping fear. You know something's horribly wrong, although you can't always say exactly what it is. So, not a perfect movie... A perfect story? Perhaps. It was alluded to. Now I can't wait to read the book.