Synopsis
Based on Evelyn Waugh's 1945 classic British novel, Brideshead Revisited is a poignant story of forbidden love and the loss of innocence set in England prior to the Second World War.
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Cast
- Matthew GoodeCharles Ryder
- Ben WhishawSebastian Flyte
- Hayley AtwellJulia Flyte
- Emma ThompsonLady Marchmain
- Michael GambonLord Marchmain
- Patrick MalahideMr. Ryder
- Ed StoppardBridey Flyte
- Greta ScacchiCara
- Anna MadeleyCelia
- Jonathan CakeRex Mottram
Recommendations
- 80
Variety
Offers lush and compelling drama drawn from Evelyn Waugh's beloved novel. Purists may blanch at the screenplay's changes to the source material's narrative fine points, but its spirit survives intact. - 75
ReelViews
There are times when Brideshead Revisited shows its seams. For those with an affinity for this kind of movie - and you know whether this applies to you - Brideshead Revisited is a worthy, although not superior, motion picture. - 75
Entertainment Weekly
The one performer who seems at home with the gravity of it all is Emma Thompson. - 75
Philadelphia Inquirer
The film is plush and passionate and graced with elegant performances. Best is that of Emma Thompson as Brideshead's matriarch, Lady Marchmain, who resembles a cross between Helen Mirren's Queen Elizabeth II and Pope Benedict. - 70
Newsweek
The remarkable thing about Jarrold's movie is how much of the book it manages to capture. - 70
Village Voice
Though I can imagine Waugh rolling his eyes at the very idea of Brideshead Revisited as "a heartbreaking romantic epic," this remake is, often inadvertently, closer to the novel's spirit than the sepulchral television series, albeit still not half as waggishly Waugh-ish as "Bright Young Things," Stephen Fry's delightfully naughty interpretation of "Vile Bodies." - 70
Washington Post
The real question is whether the film moves the "Brideshead" ball down the playing field in any meaningful way since the acclaimed miniseries. And I'd have to say that it doesn't so much advance it as it shrinks it into a golf-ball-size nugget. - 70
NPR
This is a world of dinner jackets and evening gowns, casual jaunts to Venice and Morocco; it's about elegance, style, money and perhaps too heady a mix of drink, religion and intrigue.
