| Overall Grade: |
F |
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| Story: |
F |
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| Acting: |
F |
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| Direction: |
F |
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| Visuals: |
C |
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Waugh is surely rolling in his grave --
by P (movies profile)
Dec 20, 2008
7
of
9 people found this review helpful
. . . after all, he thought that early 20th century modernity was bad enough; one can only imagine the pained look of horror he would assume were he to sit through what 2008's cinematic barbarians have made of his novel. "Change and decay in all around I see", to be sure: but that's still an understated and far too elegant way of damning director Julian Jarrold's stinking heap of gilded rubbish.
If, as a kind of literary joke, one were to set oneself the task of vulgarizing and reducing the story and characters of "Brideshead" to the level of, say, "Dynasty", it's very likely that the final result would look a lot like Jarrold's film. Horrible from end to end, this "update" of Waugh's masterly work naively assumes that sumptuous architecture and the aura of wealth can make anything look good.
Alas, a deracinated story-line, reconceived characters, miscast actors, and bad dialogue (delivered in decidedly unposh accents) overpower what might otherwise have been a competent exercise in cinematography. Indeed, the lavish scenery only serves to accentuate what an utter mess the rest of the film is. Waugh deserves far better than this, and so do we. |
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