It took several nights to recently watch this acclaimed 1981 miniseries of Evelyn Waugh's novel on DVD. I saw it when it was first broadcast but I don't remember a lot except for specific scenes that still linger in my head. So how does has it aged after many years? It's as good as anything you will ever see if you have the patience to watch the story unfold over eleven hours. Some viewers might find it slow going but that's where its charm lies. A fortune was spent in providing the novel's details to readers and those unfamiliar with it will soon be sucked into a glorious recreation of a time and place no longer with us. If you want fact pacing, move on. If you enjoy seeing the equivalent of reading a great novel, watch a chapter every night. The boxed set includes a 'making of' documentary explaining how this production was a labor of love.
Besides getting a tour of England's stately homes inhabited by aristocrats trapped by their traditions & surroundings and traveling to different countries between the wars, there's the joy of watching a marvelous cast that will never be equaled. We saw Jeremy Irons in a Tom Stoppard play years ago and stood next to him while he signed autographs before entering the theater. His back was to us and I remember how tall and lean he was with his long limbs. He's the center of the miniseries narrating his story about how he came a part of the Brideshead family, first as a friend to Sebastian and later as a confidant to his mother, and a lover to his sister. Catholicism and its guilt is a major theme theme here as it guides the family while Irons observes as an agnostic.
Forget the recent movie version; athough it's shorter, it omits characters and distorts the novel. If you haven't read the novel, you might enjoy the new movie as something like Atonement. Here's a review of the DVD miniseries and check out the original broadcast review on the same page: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/24/arts/television/24brid.html?ref=movies
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