MovieChat Forums > Brideshead Revisited (2008) Discussion > I never thought Sebastian was in love wi...

I never thought Sebastian was in love with Charles

posted 12 years ago by eva_rosen16
2 replies | jump to latest

In all three sources (book, mini-series and movie) it seemed to me that Sebastian wanted Charles to be a sort of safe place from all things Brideshead, and that's what Charles never got. Not necessarily a lover.

I'm not arguing Sebastian wasn't gay, but his way of treating Charles was more 'best friends for life' (or, as they would put it, 'us against the world') than 'love of my life, never leave me'.

See how he beheaves with Anthony and Kurt, both unarguably his lovers.

In the book and mini-series he even pushes Charles away not because he couldn't get him to love him back (obviously Charles did), but because Charles stopped backing him up and took his family's side.

I always thought their relationship imploded not because it was a youthful thing (as suggested by Cara), but because it was, for Sebastian, quite serious and Charles did saw it as a sort of summer fling (wheter you think it ever came to be physical or not).

For me, Sebastian wanted to have in Charles someone who would love him for himself (thought perhaps not romantically), a point I think comes across very well in how Sebastian gets many a profoundly personal confession among his seemingly vapid conversation(and they always fly right over Charles' head), while Charles wanted only a charming character to have fun with.

[–] roraio 8 years ago

Please try NOT to give spoilers in the subject of messages on this board in the future! Thanks!

[–] !!!deleted!!! (2212087) 8 years ago

The book was published in 1945, and has become a classic, the serial/miniseries was shown in 1981 and this cinema version released four years before the OP, and eight years before your post.

Not too sure where "spoilers" come into it, as surely any element of surprise is long gone (even if it ever existed), especially since that relationship is pivotal to the plot, and is obvious early in the story.

It's a bit like people complaining when someone mentions who is supposed to be Kaiser Soze. One tends to think, for goodness sake, get a grip, "The Usual Suspects" is over twenty years old.