" If
you asked me now who I am, the only answer I could give with any certainty
would be my name: Charles Ryder. For the rest: my loves, my hates, down even to
my deepest desires, I can no longer say whether these emotions are my own, or
stolen from those I once so desperately wished to be." Put your hand on
your heart and tell me that is not one of the hardest hitting opening lines you
have ever heard in your life. I expected this film to be good. I also expected
it to be a typical “Merchant Ivory” type period piece. You know, good quality
stuff you can depend on and guess the outcome of. Well the outcome in this case
is pretty clear as the story is told in flashback, but you pretty much bank on
being able to guess how you got there. I was wrong. Oh God I was so wrong…
The above-mentioned
Charles Ryder is an aspiring artist. When he utters these words he is
approaching middle age, the country is in the throes of the Second World War
and much of what Charles Ryder had before, in the way of prestige and
happiness, he has lost. He is embittered and hardened now and this is the story
of how it came about. Ever since his first year at Oxford, leaving a rather sad
home where his widowed and disillusioned father makes not the slightest effort
to make him feel wanted or loved, Charles’ fate is inexorably tied up with the
aristocratic Flyte family. A chance (very chance) meeting with Sebastian Flyte,
the youngest son of the family leads to a friendship Ryder is not likely to
forget for the rest of his life. Now, as we all know, families are complicated
things. When they work, they work very well, but if not, it can be hell on
earth. And the odd thing is, society is such a thing that, the deepest, darkest
holes can remain perfectly masked by social conventions, especially if you’re
as high up the social ladder as the Flytes. Charles may dream of being like
them, but really he has absolutely no idea what he is getting himself into…
This film
taught me without a shadow of a doubt what the fuss is about love triangles.
No, it is not the love triangle you think. It is a LOT more complicated than
that. In fact, the last sentence pretty much sums up the entire film. I love
this film because it does not offer any simplistic solutions. Nor does it offer
up simplistic problems, as is typical with tragedies and dramas generally. If
the film is over two hours long, it’s because, much like life, the problems the
family has are so complex. And, even though the film is set mainly in the
1920’s, at the end of the day, they are so similar to the problems we have
today. But that is the mark of a brilliant story is it not? Universal themes in
local setting as it were. The Flytes may be aristocracy but they battle with
matters like family rifts, upbringing, the concept of duty and the dark, dark
fingers of the past reaching out to grip the three Flyte children, never giving
them a hope to breathe freely. Religion comes into it, as does sexuality. So
does social background. And the result? Not a grand tragedy, as a lot of
mainstream films would have it, but a quiet pathos as the pain and darkness
are, for another generation, safely tucked away behind social convention. And
again, much like real life, the real pain comes from the fact that in the end,
try as one might, there is very little one can do, if anything at all. Charles
Ryder is about to come face to face with the true face of Brideshead, the home
of the Flytes. And sometimes, all the love in the world cannot help a person
break free from their past…
Apart from
the realistic tragedy Brideshed revisited superbly portrays, a word simply must
be said for the acting. Emma Thompson stars as one of the most memorably
horrible characters I have seen. And yet, as tempted as one is to passionately
hate Lady Marchmain, Thompson gets her just right, so we can’t fail to
understand her either – even though we don’t really want to… And then there is
Matthew Goode – Charles Ryder – who I had a niggling feeling I had seen before.
I had. In A Single Man (as Jim, the partner who dies), along with Match Point and
Watchmen among other things. Oh and then there is Ben Winshaw who plays
Sebastian. I can confirm, yes that IS the guy who plays the new Q in Skyfall.
Do your really need any more convincing folks? Just go watch the film already.
This one is in my top 10 any day of the week.
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