- We saw this mostly because we kept misreading the posters as “Bride Shed Revisited”. I haven’t read the book, didn’t see the trailer prior, and had no idea what this was about.
- I’ve always laboured under the obvious delusion that there are no Catholics in England. Further to this, I was surprised that there would be a Catholic family in such high standing and not only that, that Mummy Moneybags actually expected that she’d be able to marry her daughter off to another well-to-do Catholic. Are there really that many Catholics in England? In my mind, Catholicism in England died with Henry VIII. Apparently reality is another matter altogether.
- Did anyone else get the impression that there was an incredibly huge incest storyline that got dropped in editing? Because I kept waiting for the big incest revelation and then the movie ended without one.
- Charles’ father lived in what seemed to be Number 12 Grimmauld Place and had a personality akin to Ma Black’s. Naturally, he was one of the best parts of the film and sadly did not get that much screen time.
- Best part of the entire film: the bedazzled tortoise that Rex, the brash and hilarious American and Julia’s future husband, brings with him to Brideshead. So fucking random and so fucking hilarious.
- Best line in the entire film: when Charles and Sebastien are having their own private wine tasting and Charles says “This is a shy little wine, like a gazelle.”
- Charles’ motivations seem to be thrown around rather abruptly. Towards the end of the movie they everyone starts randomly accusing him of wanting the stately home of Brideshead, as if this is something he’s been aspiring towards ever since he met Sebastien. Except they never give an inkling of that at any point earlier in the movie. It’s obvious that Charles comes from a very different world than the Flytes and that he is very much in awe of their wealth and is quite content to enjoy it, but the later accusations regarding his motives seem to lean more towards a belief that he wants to hold the deed and title to the place.
- I didn’t really feel any great undying love between Charles and Julia, to be honest, so when they accidentally-on-purpose ran into each other on the boat (which was not the Titanic, guy two seats down) and decided to get it on because they could no longer hold their passion at bay, I was unenthused.
- I was quite convinced for 80% of the film that the older brother, Bridey, was indeed Mummy Moneybags’ much younger second husband. When we’re first introduced to the Flyte family as a whole, I assumed that the father had died and that Bridey was the unwelcome second husband based on the way the kids seemed to loathe him. Turns out they just hate the older brother.
Categories: 2 Stars