Bridesehead Revisited (1981, 2008)
Jeremey Irons, Anthony Andrews (1981)
Matthew Goode, Ben Whishaw (2008)

Some books get all the luck: this one's garned 2 (two!) modern adaptations—a fabulous 11-hour mini-series and a very fine (though misleading) 2-hour film. Next, a Broadway play...wait and see.

Waugh toiled at pen and paper for sometime—having 25 or so books to his name. But Brideshead is considered his finest— even his masterpiece.

Charles Ryder meets Lord Sebastion Flyte at Oxford and for over a decade is enmeshed in the machinations of Sebastian's very wealthy, aristocratic, and Catholic family (a family that takes the fun out of dysfunctional.) The book is part comedy-of-manners, part family-saga and part tragedy, as well as a picturesque view of England between the two great wars.

On to the films: my favorite (I'm hardly alone) is the extra-ordinary BBC mini-series, the one that made Jeremy Irons a star in this country. I remember an obsessive nation caught up— for nearly 3 months—in the can't-miss Sunday night episodes on PBS. The series adheres faithfully to the book— and actors set a high bar for anyone to follow.

Well, follow they did—27 years later with a new 2-hour production. Cinematographically beautiful, a lush score, and incredibly fine performances, I like it much more than I thought I would.

The problem is that time its limitations (2 hours vs. 11 hours), compress and distort the story line. The most significant error is the blossoming attraction between Charles and sister Julia—years before it happens in the book.

As a result, in this version Sebastion's decline is precipitated by his jealousy of Charles and Julia. The result is to misrepresent the true reasons behind his downfall—his struggle over his mother's (a deliciously flinty Emma Thompson!) chastisement as she insists that he submit to the Catholic faith.

More than anything, the story is about the possibility of salvation through Christian grace in a secular and profane world (thus, the subtitle of the book—The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder).