Brideshead Revisited
(1981)CAST OF THOUSANDS Anthony Andrews, Claire Bloom, Stephane Audran, Phoebe Nicholls, Diana Quick, Jane Asher, Simon Jones, John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier
BREAKOUT STAR Jeremy Irons (pictured, right with Andrews), as protagonist Charles Ryder
MINI-SUMMARY In England between the two world wars, middle-class Charles falls in love, first with patrician Sebastian (Andrews), then with his whole family, whose decline parallels Charles' rise.
HIGHLIGHTS The drunken Sebastian first meets Charles after vomiting into his window at Oxford; Lord Marchmain (Olivier) delivers a long and memorable monologue on his deathbed.
IMPACT Oh, the costumes! The accents! The furniture! The stiff-upper-lip manners! This adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's novel isn't just masterful acting and storytelling; it's also the height of travel porn for any of us colonials who have ever wished we could be British aristocrats.
FOLLOW-UP None — what would they have called it? Brideshead Revisited Revisited?
EW GRADE A
