MovieChat Forums > Brideshead Revisited (2008) Discussion > I think Jarrold missed the point of the ...

I think Jarrold missed the point of the novel...

posted 12 years ago by reeldramaqueen
6 replies | jump to latest

...and that's largely why this film fails--not just as a remake, but as a film separate from anything else. For a long time I've been trying to figure out why this film felt a little shallow to me, given the amazing source material, the brilliant, spot-on acting, beautiful cinematography, and an elegant score. I think Jarrold was trying to appeal to a contemporary audience, but you can't remake Brideshead Revisited and treat religion like it's a byproduct. This was Waugh's first Catholic novel, he was a convert, and he is on record as saying that this book was about how God can pull people back to Him at any time. He actually likens it to an invisible thread, with God as the fisherman and the people as the fish. However you feel about religion, you can't deny that this in mind brings deeper meaning to the story. It fleshes it out, and without it, a lot of things don't make sense--number one being Charles' conversion to Catholicism, although this is presented more ambiguously in the film. Jarrold decided that the love story was more important, and even though it is significant, I think giving it the significance he did, that some of the deeper issues got lost.

I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.

[–] wimseymaniac 12 years ago

I couldn`t agree more- I have seldom been as disappointed with a literary adaption as I have been with this one. It seems to me that neither the director nor the scriptwriter bothered with anything that Evelyn Waugh wrote or said about this book. And if they did, they simply didn`t get it.
I don`t think they treat religion as a byproduct- on the contrary, for me, the movie was strongly anti-religion (more exactly, anti-Catholic, which is of course why it might appeal to a contemporary audience) which obviously is not at all what Waugh wanted to convey with his novel.
Big disappointment, especially considering the acting talent that has gone into it.

It is our choices that show what we truly are... far more than our abilities.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] wimseymaniac 10 years ago

Let´s not forget that he converted to Catholicism after the failure of his first marriage. He was a deeply religious man- so deep into the Catholic faith that he was really bothered with all the changes to the faith that the Second Vatican Council brought about.

It is our choices that show what we truly are... far more than our abilities.

[–] agera 10 years ago

Exactly. The whole point of the novel is the study of God's grace on each member of the Flyte family.

"I have had singing."

[–] Alphonse_van_Worden 10 years ago

You're being very kind when you state that Jarrold missed the point of the novel. I don't think he understood one syllable of it.

[–] Elisabet Jonsson 10 years ago

I reread the novel last year, and I cannot agree with anything that is written in this thread, but not being a believer myself I may interpret it differently.

Yes, Charles doesn't understand the importance of religion in the Flyte family, which is one of the reasons why he loses Julia. But the criticism of fundamentalism is there in the novel I think. And it is also irrelevant whether the belief is Catholic/Anglican/Evangelical, Muslim, Hindu or Jewish -- too much religion causes pain and suffering.