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Brideshead Revisited
R1 - America - Buena Vista Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Adam Palcher (28th June 2009). |
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The Film
 The 2008 remake of the classic British novel by Evelyn Waugh is a long and elegant journey into the lives of the fairest and richest family in Britain, the Marchmains. Though this film deals with their extravagant lifestyles its main character is based around an outsider, named Charles (Matthew Goode), who is befriended by the troubled and alcoholic son Sebastian (Ben Whishaw). Charles is taken back by the money, the power, and the influence this family has on him and society. Wanting so badly to fit in with their ways his eyes fall not only on Sebastian, but his sister and tease Julia (Hayley Atwell). The film looks beautiful and the actual estate of Brideshead is truly astounding to look at. It’s hard to believe that someone has that much money that they can live in a place like this. The production design and cinematography is what took me back more than anything with this film. The landscapes of the country and cityscapes of Venice and Oxford look so beautiful it’ll make you want to go and buy a plane ticket today. The remaining aspects of the film are what you’d expect, top notch acting with Matthew Goode, Emma Thompson, and Ben Whishaw holding their own against the elegant pre-World War II period. The story is a classic and will have a built in audience for fans of the book, but as always the film is not as good as the book. The story portrayed on screen has dull moments and lingering emotions that end abruptly and unexplained. The subtext is covered better in the book and is the reason this was just a sub-par film to watch. Not to say someone who hasn’t read the book wouldn’t enjoy this, on the contrary I think they would enjoy it more. The acting and dialogue flow well and the look and tone of the time period were far beyond what I initially expected, but for how slow some of the story was it also felt a bit cramped with the family relationships braving heights that could have been passed over and left for the readers. The best subtext of the film is the theme of religion; the Marchmains are a famously Catholic family and are intended to keep up appearances when personally they don’t believe or spite their mother for forcing it upon them. That dynamic worked terrifically until the end credits and I wish they would have delved deeper into that. Overall, the film is a nice watch but nothing that will change the course of cinematic history like the book has with Waugh’s novel.
Video
This transfer here is really nice and shows off England like you rarely see. Presented in 2:40:1 aspect ratio which is enhanced for 16x9 televisions, the final product is a presentable version of the film showing off the simple, yet creative colors and cinematography. There is a Blu-ray version that I imagine would look even better and is the preferred viewing experience.
Audio
A single English Dolby Digital 5.1 track, it's a nicely well rounded mix with a mostly dialogue driven front end and a score driven back end. There is nothing distracting and nice booming bass tones coming from the presentation. Subtitles are presented in English and Spanish.
Extras
Buena Vista has released this film with an audio commentary, deleted scenes, a featurette and bonus trailers. Below is a closer look. An enlightened audio commentary with three very smart and fresh English gentlemen featuring director Julian Jarrold, producer Kevin Loader and screenwriter Jeremy Brock supplying there fun stories of the experience and some re-hashed stuff from the behind-the-scenes featurette (reviewed below). Commentaries are of great use for huge fans of the film and those who want to know what goes behind the process. Seven deleted scenes from the films that are presented on the 'Director’s Cut' Blu-ray (UK release) version of the movie. The scenes are “Goodbye”, “Art School”, “Celia’s Exit”, “ Mr. Samgrass”, Still Here”, “The Slap”, and “He’s Dying”. With a total run time of 11 minutes and 34 seconds there is an optional audio commentary by director Julian Jarrold, producer Kevin Loader and screenwriter Jeremy Brock. Some scenes are extensions of what’s in the films but mostly stuff that surprisingly could have worked in the movie, but were cut for time. “The World Of Brideshead” is a featurette with a runtime of 20 minutes and 47 seconds you get your basic behind-the-scenes clip supplying interviews with the cast and crew showing cuts from the movie and behind the camera. These are always fun and usually fluff pieces but are great for fans of the film, this is no exception mainly discussing the conversion from the classic novel and the transfer to film. Bonus trailers on the disc are for: - "Truth" Anti-smoking ad running 30 seconds. - "Earth" which runs 2 minutes. - "Miramax Films" spot presenting their best and most famous line up, runtime is 2 minutes and 30 seconds. - "Swing Vote" runtime is 2 minutes and 30 seconds. - "The Boy In The Striped Pajamas" runtime is 2 minutes and 16 seconds. - "Grey’s Anatomy: The Complete Fourth Season" runs for 38 seconds. - "Disney Blu-ray" spot runtime is 1 minute and 45 seconds.
Packaging
Packaged in an amaray case housed in a cardboard slip-case.
Overall
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