Directed by Julian Jarrold

Evelyn Waugh included many autobiographical details in his novel Brideshead Revisited. He enjoyed life as an Oxford undergraduate, drinking too much, mixing with sons of wealthier families and experiencing at least one homosexual relationship. Spanning three decades between 1920 and 1940, the story covers much more than youthful explorations. It was a time that saw the decline of the English Catholic aristocracy. Waugh himself converted to Catholicism in 1930 and persuaded a friend to convert on his deathbed. This lush film based on Waugh’s book has it all – religion, faith, passion, guilt and of course love.

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Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode) is studying history at Oxford, but really wants to be an artist. Befriended by Sebastian Flyte (Ben Whishaw), he is introduced to a world of wealth and outrageous behaviour. He is also introduced to Sebastian’s sister Julia (Hayley Atwell) and the magnificent ancestral home Brideshead, presided over by Sebastian’s controlling mother Lady Marchmain (Emma Thompson). Sebastian falls in love with Charles and is determined to keep him to himself, but Charles falls in love with the lifestyle at Brideshead and becomes infatuated with Julia. Unfortunately for Charles, Lady Marchmain rigidly enforces Catholic beliefs, making a spiritual and social divide between Charles and the Marchmain children.

The locations are sumptuous, with filming in Oxford and grand English houses; in Venice where Lord Marchmain (Michael Gambon) lives with his mistress Cara (Greta Scacchi) and in Morocco where an ailing, alcoholic Sebastian escapes the scrutiny of his family. The film recreates some gloriously indulgences of the twenties and thirties, including the ability of young men to have loving friendships. As the three young people grow older, life’s realities impact on them quite severely and the beginning of the Second World War sees a greatly changed Britain.

Lezley Herbert