Movie Review: “Brideshead Revisited” – Not So Masterpiece Theater

The makers of “Brideshead Revisited” set out to make a staggering epic with their version of Evelyn Waugh’s epic saga of a comman man’s tragic relationship to an aristocratic family in the years between the great world wars.

I’m convinced they wanted to make a Merchant-Ivory calibur film and it is extremely unfortunate that they fell well short of their mark this time around. For all its granduer and opulence, “Brideshead” loses itself and its audience among the ins and outs of its immense storyline.

Led by the amazing 2x Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson who portrays the smotheringly manipulative Lady Marchmain, the cast of “Brideshead” works very hard to give their characters depth and nuance over the course of the story’s 20+ years.

It is a shame the movies isn't better because I really wanted to love this film; I have been eagerly awaiting its arrival based on the movie trailer below:



Since this is a tale of manners, the other actors do a great job of conveying their emotions with glances, gestures and intonation. I particularly enjoyed Michael Gambon (Dumbledore in the “Harry Potter” series) as Thompson’s estranged husband, an almost unrecognizable Greta Saatchi as Gambon’s italian lover and the very promosing Matthew Goode (who was fantastic in 2007’s “The Lookout”) as the lead.

In the end, “Brideshead” is much too big to be contained in just over 2 hours. The origianal 1981 miniseries which starred Jeremy Irons clocked in at 11 hours so there was plenty of time to mine each corner and crevice of this mammoth tale. I had the same reaction to director Julian Jarrod 2007 “Becoming Jane” staring Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy – he trys very hard to cover all the beats of the story but in his rush to the finish line, the audience is left dazed and confused in his wake.

If you still want to see “Brideshead,” go for the beautiful settings and the great acting. Just know ahead of time that your visit might not be that memorable and you probably won’t want to visit again anytime soon.