Brideshead Revisited (2008) -vs- Atonement (2007)

Boys from the Wrong Side of the Tracks

The Smackdown. There's no doubt that superheroes and stoners are king at this summer's box office, but if you're craving a little romanticism - oh hell, a LOT of romanticism - and stories that don't rely on car chases, Swedish pop music or the wit of forty year old adolescents, then Julian Jarrold's "Brideshead Revisited" may be exactly what you're looking for.  The film is already drawing comparisons to last year's epic period piece "Atonement."  On the surface these two films appear to be very similar - both are adapted from remarkable works of fiction, set in similar time periods and locations, and each film features a young man of humble birth who falls for a woman of a much higher social standing.  While both films touch on the struggle between the classes, "Atonement" explores the power of words, perception and forgiveness, while "Brideshead Revisited" focuses more on religion and the often incomprehensible meanderings of the human heart.  Today these films forget their good breeding, set aside their high society manners and battle it out to prove that they are not your parents' period dramas.

The Challenger.  Julian Jarrold directs the latest version of Evelyn Waugh's famous "Brideshead Revisited."  Set in England during the years before WWII, the film centers around Charles Ryder, a young middle class painter.  During his first year at Oxford Charles meets Sebastian Flyte, a beguiling and flamboyant aristocrat.  Sebastian and Charles begin an intense, though platonic, friendship. Their relationship is further complicated when Charles spends the summer at Sebastian’s sprawling estate at Brideshead and is introduced to Sebastian’s glamorous sister, Julia, and their devoutly Catholic mother, Lady Marchmain. Both brother and sister claim to be “heathens” and “sinners,” but both are so tied to their mother’s dogma that it will haunt them the rest of their lives. Julia and Sebastian are drawn to Charles because he is completely untouched by the world they live in.  Charles, however, is dazzled by their opulent lifestyle, by the palatial Brideshead, and by the siblings and all that they represent. He’s so taken by it all, in fact, that he soon finds himself swept up in the family’s convoluted affairs.