"Brideshead Revisited" tells an evocative story of forbidden love and the loss of innocence set in the pre–WWII era.
The story is told by Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode), who when we meet him, is a famous painter, a guest on a postwar Atlantic crossing.
On board, he encounters Julia Mottram (Hayley Atwell), who when she was Julia Flyte in the years between the wars, inflamed Charles with love.
That he was previously, less ardently, in love with her brother Sebastian (Ben Whishaw) was a complication.
That he was a middle–class boy infatuated with the entire family –their inherited Marchmain title, their wealth, their history, their great mansion Brideshead –was in a way at the bottom of everything.
The rise and fall of Charles‘ infatuations reflect the decline of a decadent era in England between the wars. A passionate affair erupts, but nothing – not success, wealth or experience – is enough to bridge the spiritual and social divide between them. |
