So they are remaking Brideshead Revisited. Now I haven't seen the first one, but its supposed to be a classic, and Jeremy Irons is in it. This preview certainly makes the story look interesting.....
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2246246681/
but still, why remake it when there are so many other books to turn into movies
Including better ones by Waugh.
I liked Brideshead though, it really is quite good.
Oooh and this one has Felicity Jones in it, yummy :)
Also, they could have put Jeremy Irons in it instead of Michael Gambon. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Dumbledore 2.0, but he is no Jeremy Irons!
Er, he played Ryder in the ITV one and he's not really the right type for Lord Marchmaine, Gambon's actualluy a pretty good choice.
I mean the parents in the previous one were Larry Olivier and Claire Bloom, while in this one they're Emma Thompson and Gambon, I think it's quite good casting really.
Nice to see they're still using Castle Howard, though at first I thought it was Longleat.
I'm prepared to hate it on sight.
Signed, PlayMSTie: Proudly Keeping a Closed Mind Since 1975
:) I'm joking, a little. But I have done some research into this and I really dislike what they've done with the story. WHY must so many great classics (books and films) be turned into 21st-century Hollywood pap that all looks and sounds alike? Same cliches, same love triangles, everything unique and original sanded off so there can't be anything thought-provoking or inspiring. I'm so sick of it.
I can't find a great deal on the plot of the film and i tend to not trust trailers to provide an accurate synopsis, so what did they do to it?
Bear in mind I'm only going on what I've been able to hear and read about it so far.
They seem to have changed the relationships from "Charles and Sebastian pair off and then, much later, Charles and Julia pair off" into your standard-issue contemporary pukey love triangle where Sebastian is jealous and destroyed by Charles/Julia. Forgive my vehemence. I feel very strongly that love triangles have been done to death in movies and TV. I know they're a classic staple, but they're so badly done now. They're the same cliched old thing every time and they bore me to tears. Also, I think the idea is that this is why Sebastian starts drinking, which is a major change in motivation. And I've heard rumblings about significant changes in Lady Mortmain's character as well, and Julia and Rex's marriage, and Charles's motivations. (Much of this is hinted at in the trailer.)
But even worse, to me, is that the adapter (or one of the adapters? I've heard different estimates of how many there were) has talked about how, in his mind, God is the villain of the story. That goes COMPLETELY against the heart of Waugh's story. (I've read that he refused to let a film be made way back when because he thought the would-be adapters didn't get the theology!) If you want to make an anti-God film, that's one thing -- people do it all the time -- but make your own film. Don't take a story that's a personal, deeply felt expression of a man's religious values and use it to denigrate those values. It trashes the entire thing. It's the same way I felt about Children of Men, when they took P. D. James's ideas and themes and turned them completely upside down. I know some people liked it as a stand-alone film, but it ripped the guts out of James's great story. Same thing here.
I wouldn't be so against this if I thought it was going to respect the original story. Even if they had to make some fairly major changes -- and they probably would to boil it down to standard feature film length -- I'd be okay with it. But this is something else again.
Quote from: PlayMSTie on June 23, 2008, 08:02:31 PM
Bear in mind I'm only going on what I've been able to hear and read about it so far.
They seem to have changed the relationships from "Charles and Sebastian pair off and then, much later, Charles and Julia pair off" into your standard-issue contemporary pukey love triangle where Sebastian is jealous and destroyed by Charles/Julia. Forgive my vehemence. I feel very strongly that love triangles have been done to death in movies and TV. I know they're a classic staple, but they're so badly done now. They're the same cliched old thing every time and they bore me to tears. Also, I think the idea is that this is why Sebastian starts drinking, which is a major change in motivation. And I've heard rumblings about significant changes in Lady Mortmain's character as well, and Julia and Rex's marriage, and Charles's motivations. (Much of this is hinted at in the trailer.)
But even worse, to me, is that the adapter (or one of the adapters? I've heard different estimates of how many there were) has talked about how, in his mind, God is the villain of the story. That goes COMPLETELY against the heart of Waugh's story. (I've read that he refused to let a film be made way back when because he thought the would-be adapters didn't get the theology!) If you want to make an anti-God film, that's one thing -- people do it all the time -- but make your own film. Don't take a story that's a personal, deeply felt expression of a man's religious values and use it to denigrate those values. It trashes the entire thing. It's the same way I felt about Children of Men, when they took P. D. James's ideas and themes and turned them completely upside down. I know some people liked it as a stand-alone film, but it ripped the guts out of James's great story. Same thing here.
I wouldn't be so against this if I thought it was going to respect the original story. Even if they had to make some fairly major changes -- and they probably would to boil it down to standard feature film length -- I'd be okay with it. But this is something else again.
Yep that does sound pretty disrespectful to Waugh's intent especially
the theological aspects but rest of it also. Sigh
I watched The End of the Affair (Ralph Fiennes version) and there was def an anti-theology element to it. I read the book and it seemed similiar. The last line was the exact same anyway. I really liked that book!
Er The End of the Affair is by Graham Greene. Greene did have a slightly different take on his faith than Waugh.
In what way? I haven't seen the Fiennes film, though I love the book. I'm just curious about your take about the differences between the two men's theological views. I love their work -- probably Greene's more than Waugh's -- but I know relatively little about many of the other aspects of their lives.
I'm sorry. I know that THe End of the Affair is by Graham Greene., I should have specified it for anyone who doesn't know
I have yet to read Brideshead, so I can't discuss the theological differences. All I remember about The End of The Affair was the last line. God, Leave me alone. Forever. or something like that
OK so I saw the film last night.
Taken on its own merits it's not too bad. As an adaptation thought it's woefully far from the mark.
The novels central theme really is the working of divine grace but the central theme in the film seems to be "They fuck you up, your Mum and the priests"
Which is pretty antithecal to Waugh's intent really.
Still Julia was lovely.
Julia Who?
Lady Julia Flyte, she's the sister of Sebastian in the film she's played by Hayley Atwell.