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Reviews
Brideshead Revisited (2008)
A pox on everyone associated with this travesty
It is possible that there are SPOILERS in this review, although to be frank, I don't see how anything could truly spoil something already so bad.
To make a 2 1/2 hour movie out of Brideshead Revisited, particularly in view of the utter perfection of the 1981 Granada production, was folly. The only reason I saw it last week was to see exactly how big a mess they had made of it. I assume that the critics who are raving about it are a) bored to tears by everything else on the screen at the moment, b) toying with the public to see how gullible it is, or c) have not bothered either to read the book or see the real version. Or (Is it possible?) they really thought it was good.
Not only are the best characters reduced to mere walk-ons (Ryder Sr., Anthony Blanche, and especially Cordelia), but someone in charge repeatedly saw fit to change the plot in ways that sap from that haunting story all complexity and subtlety in favor of bite-sized morsels of easy-to-swallow banality. I recognized virtually none of Waugh's original dialogue; all of his lovely lyrical writing (much of which was Charles's voice-over as he told us the story) is gone, as are countless little moments that served to deepen these people and our understanding of and sympathy for them.
Lady Marchmain, even in the hands of Emma Thompson, is reduced to a cardboard virago -- a pity, since Ms. Thompson, had she been given the chance (time, script), might have done Claire Bloom proud as the manipulative yet heartbreaking matriarch. As to the other actors -- one does not envy anyone asked to step into roles that were brought to life by Irons, Andrews, Bloom, Olivier, Gielgud, et al. On top of that, and considering the paucity of plot and character development they were given to work with, they were adequate.
Do yourself a big favor and wait till it comes to TV, and in the meantime, treat yourself to the real thing.
The Member of the Wedding (1997)
Carson McCullers is turning over in her grave
Paquin's accent isn't great, although she is a reasonably affecting Frankie. Julie Harris she is not, but she has her moments. Woodard is terrific as Berenice, as far as she was allowed to go.
But the novel, which is a dreamy, exquisite book, has been eviscerated. Not only did the writer (or more likely, the producer or the director or Hallmark) simply lop off the rest of the story, but Berenice's big scene, wherein she tells of Ludie's death and her subsequent, hopeless search for "pieces" (as she says) of him, has been eliminated, except for a fragment plopped (why?!) at the beginning of the movie.
Really, I think there should be a law against hacks putting their hands on art. Everything Mrs. McCullers created -- the characters, the pathos, the heat and boredom of that summer, the depth of their sorrow, longing, restlessness, disappointment... oh! and the plot -- has been diluted for easy consumption by the public, most of whom, alas, will not even know the difference. Which, I suppose, is why, and how, the perpetrators of this pale fraud justified this sorry mess. Shame on them.
Read the book and then (and only then) see the original movie. Please.