Big, epic English family shenanigans: just what the summer needed
Image Courtesy of IMPawards.com
Director: Julian Jarrold
Notable Cast: Emma Thompson, Matthew Goode, Ben Whishaw, Hayley Atwell, Michael Gamblon, Felicity Jones
The working man in the realm of the wealthy one is often used for comedy, as the “fish out of water” concept is one that makes up comedic films all the time. Drama, on the other hand, is a much different beast all together. Instead of easy gags, you have awkward moments, and that’s the best way to describe Brideshead Revisited: a series of awkward moments.
A famous painter, Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode) by chance runs into Julia (Hayley Atwell). A former love, he flashes back to a different time. Charles then is a middle class kid from London who goes to Oxford to study history. Introduced in a unique manner to Sebastian (Ben Whishaw), he quickly becomes Sebastian’s good friend and is invited to Sebastian’s family estate of Brideshead. Meeting Julia, and a chance romantic encounter with both siblings, leads to ramifications that last a lifetime.
And for a film that has an epic novel, as well as an epic television series, it doesn’t feel like an epic film. At a shade over two hours, there’s plenty of material to go around and Jarrold seems to be going for a much longer film based on the pace of the film. It’s a slow-moving film that relies on dialogue and characters as opposed to an overall story or thematic structure, but it feels like he’s going for closer to three hours as opposed to a shade over two. The film doesn’t have a solid middle act to go along with an extended introduction and conclusion. The middle portion, where the Charles and the siblings are to be developed, isn’t nearly as long or as developed as it could be. It feels more like a two act play, with just an introduction and a conclusion, as opposed to having a crucial middle act to establish it all.
Matthew Goode, however, keeps the film interesting with another in what is becoming a series of strong performances. For an actor whose cinematic resume is more impressive than his status as a popular actor, it’s easily his strongest work since Match Point and he carries the film quite well. Its not a brilliant performance, but its one to look to as the build towards his major role in Watchmen continues.
Brideshead Revisited is a solid, if unspectacular, art house film that makes for an interesting two hours for those not inclined towards the summer blockbuster.
