.jeri.

Jenny and I went to see Brideshead Revisited this past weekend. I'll always remember that she used to watch the tv miniseries when it was played repeatedly on Bravo. I joined her when Bravo played Twin Peaks constantly, but never got around to watching the series, which is, from what I've heard, quite good. I had no clue what the movie was about going into it. As it turns out, the movie is a sort of love triangle with three main characters, but there are many other influential ideas and characters that turn it in to more of a love hexagon or octagon--you know what I mean.

The story follows Charles Ryder, an aspiring artist of humble beginnings, who meets a rich school mate named Sebastien and spends the summer with him at Brideshead Castle. In the movie (from what I understand, it's not so clear in the book), Sebastian is openly gay. The two spend a lot of time having fun on the estate, and soon enough Sebastien's sister Julia joins them. While Sebastien is subtly trying to make his moves on Charles--who appears not to be interested but doesn't discourage Sebastien's hopes--Charles is falling for Julia. Julia and Sebastien's mother, a devout Catholic, is also at Brideshead, and her indoctrination of her children to the faith puts a damper on things for Charles. The children seem to rebel, but still feel the pull of faith, which affects all of the relationships that develop throughout the movie. Brideshead itself is a part of the love triangle, the way it mesmerizes Charles, causing him to experience a romanticized life while he's there, and looming as a shadow in the back of his mind when he's away.

The movie looks and sounds great. I thought the score fit in well with the story and brought in the period piece emotions that one might expect from a movie like this. The costumes are luxurious and detailed, and definitely stand out. One can feel the atmosphere of Brideshead that made such an impression on Charles. In fact, the whole way the movie is staged and scripted really helped me experience the events happening from his point of view, which I greatly appreciated. All of the actors seem to fit in well with their roles, especially Emma Thompson as Lady Marchmain, Sebastian and Julia's mother.

As I mentioned earlier, during a pivotal scene of the movie, our audience heard a lot of noises going on outside the theater. Apparently it was fireworks, but it certainly didn't sound like them, and it didn't sound like noises coming from the movie next door. It honestly sounded like gunfire. The first time we heard it, my sister and I looked at each other and said, "Fireworks?" and then rejected it when we heard the second noise. We looked around and noticed that everyone else was looking around too and all of us appeared to be concerned. Jenny and I were hardly watching the movie because we were watching the hallway out of the corner of our eye to see if someone would come barging in. We were holding our purses, ready to run. Eventually the noises, which only lasted for about five minutes, disappeared.

So, with that disruption, I feel like I missed out on the end of this movie. I lost focus and know that I missed a key conversation that led to the movie's ultimate conclusion. It's a shame, because I thought the themes about religion were interesting. For most of the movie, all of the characters except for Lady Marchmain seem resistant to religion's hold on their lives, but most of them seem to embrace it as their lives bring them to a point where they are ready to let it be a part of who they are. And, as the movie comes to a close, we even see a bit of hope in Charles, who can't bring himself to fully ignore the faith that was such a big part of the people at Brideshead.

Now that I've seen it, I'm definitely interested in the miniseries and the actual novel. They will both be on my long to-do list. Since haven't looked into either as of yet, I thought this movie was very good, although I admit that it sometimes lacked a certain spark. In the end, I think I liked it a lot, and find that I keep thinking back about it--pondering the story, its characters and their motivations, and the overall themes. Glad I caught it!