Brideshead Revisited (2008)

While attending Oxford University, a young man (Matthew Goode) of middle class upbringing befriends a flamboyant homosexual (Ben Whishaw). When he is brought to his new friend's ancestral home Brideshead, he becomes obsessed with the house (which he thinks is the most magnificent thing he's seen) and the family. Based on the novel by Evelyn Waugh (previously made into a 1981 TV series) and directed by Julian Jarrold (KINKY BOOTS). I've never been enamored of the trials and tribulations of the effete British aristocracy so normally these types of movies aren't for me. I've not read Waugh's source material but apparently, the film makers have made the homosexual element more definite whereas in the novel, it was more suggestive. It doesn't help that Whishaw plays his character as whiny and self pitying which makes him immediately unattractive. Goode is such a cipher here and if I hadn't seen him give strong performances in STOKER and THE IMITATION GAME, I would have assumed he was without talent. What the film does get right is how Catholicism doesn't let go of its children even if they reject the faith, it's always there lurking. Pity the film discarded the book's ending where Goode's character, an atheist, feels the pull of Catholicism. With Emma Thompson (superb), Hayley Atwell, Michael Gambon, Greta Scacchi, Patrick Malahide and Felicity Jones.