BRIDESHEAD REVISITED

Okay, I knew nothing about the book, nothing about the story. I was drawn to this movie, foolishly, thanks to the swift marketing campaign that decorated most of the commercial breaks I happened to view in the week immediately following the film's limited release. And I said, why not? I'd like a good love story.

A good love story. If used to describe BRIDESHEAD, there are two incorrect words in that definition. "Good" and "love." I'm not quite sure what BRIDESHEAD wants to be about, but it's not about love as much as it is about religion.

The story centers around an atheist's early manhood romance with a devout and sheltered Catholic girl. They kiss, separate for a few years, reunite, a la ATONEMENT. In fact, ATONEMENT and BRIDESHEAD share quite a few characteristics. Let's make a list of five:

1. Class differences. In both films, the boy is of a lower class than the girl.
2. Guilt. In both films, the actions one commits due to pride, and ensuing guilt, play a central role.
3. Epic-ness. In both films, budding love, followed by a swift separation, followed by a very long engagement--er, period of pining--followed by an awkward yet crucial moment of reunion...in other words, the stuff of epicness that awards recognition usually requires (see also: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN) build the temporal structure of the story.
4. Britishness. Both films take place in England, during or near wartime. It's so British.
5. Length. Both films are a little too long. I loved ATONEMENT, but it's the truth.

So I forget why I listed that...my point is, despite their similarities, ATONEMENT was better. Maybe it's not fair to compare them, but my problem with BRIDESHEAD is that, unlike in ATONEMENT, there was no pay-off to all the misery. Hope I'm not ruining it by saying so. ATONEMENT was deliciously sad, heart-wrenchingly poignant in its depiction of an artistic life racked by lifelong guilt. Though our central character never stopped suffering, she attacked her suffering with honesty, which I suppose served, in a religious sense, as some sort of absolution from her wrongdoing. I just kept waiting for someone in this story to be redeemed thus, and it never quite happened. I was pretty disgruntled at the end, wondering what the point was. I don't know if that's the film's fault or the fault of the original source material, but since I now never plan to read the novel BRIDESHEAD REVISITED, I guess I'll never know.

As an aside, however, Emma THOMPSON was almost scary as Lady Marchmain. And Ben WHISHAW played quite well as the character Sebastien Flyte. Why don't I remember him from LAYER CAKE?

plot: Religion creates conundrums for infatuation.
thought: They probably would've split anyway.
in five: 2.5/5

sadly yours: http://bridesheadrevisited-themovie.com/