Julian Jarrold

USA | 2007 | 133mins | 35mm | Colour

High society’s misdemeanours are lavishly explored in Julian Jarrold’s latest feature Brideshead Revisited. Set in the decadent pre-World War II era of 1920s Britain and based on Evelyn Waugh’s acclaimed novel, the story details Charles Ryder’s summer with the noble Marchmain family.

Befriended by Sebastian during their time at university together, Charles is invited to spend the summer with his family. Soon Charles becomes infatuated with the upper-class lifestyle and in particular Sebastian’s sister Julia, while delicately enduring Sebastian’s longing for him. Charles, a fervent atheist, soon realises that he is treading a path he will soon come to regret as he increasingly comes into conflict with the strict religious doctrine of Lady Marchmain. Sebastian, Charles and Julia drift from one another’s company but remain intangibly bound together by conflicted secular yearnings and sacred guilt.

Under Jarrold’s assured direction (his feature Kinky Boots screened at the Cork Film Festival in 2005), the film becomes an exploration of the loss of innocence in 1920s Britain, a period in which the influence of the aristocracy on the country began to gradually unravel. Matthew Goode is wonderfully understated as Charles Ryder yet his performance is potent enough to stand up to the highly impressive supporting turns by Emma Thompson and Michael Gambon.

A finely wrought… lush and compelling drama drawn from the beloved novel - Variety

The [Coen] brothers have conjured a crazy-quilt, comic thriller in the form of a sex farce. The result is wildly funny…and indisputably daring – Rolling Stone