Brideshead Revisited

There's no way I can be an impartial observer of this film, growing up as I did with the enormously lengthy Granada TV adaptation (about which I actually remember very little apart from certain iconic images) I may even have read the book at some point but that clearly left zero impression. So it's all very pretty, with lots of cliched Oxford scenes, and Venice and Castle Howard looking very photogenic. The cast are equally easy on the eyes. However, that is part of the problem. It's all surface with no depth whatsoever. Every so often someone mentions religion or Catholicism just to remind us that there's more to the story than nice clothes and glorious interiors. Only Ben Whishaw's Sebastian ever really touches the emotions. Every look he directs at Charles speaks unrequited love while the guilt and manipulation he undergoes courtesy of his mother is quite heartbreaking. It's a glimpse of the destructive force of repressive religion which resides within this particular country pile.