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Oh, puh-leeze
Aug. 7th, 2008 04:50 pmI just watched the trailer for the remake of Brideshead Revisited (yeah, I know, whatever, I'm way behind on everything). I am just... I... WHAT. They seem to have not only remade the miniseries in many respects (Charles in this film is dressed almost exactly as Charles was dressed in the series, the set dressing and blocking is almost dead on in some clips to the series', Charles's actor seems to be aping Jeremy Irons's delivery and facial expressions, and so on), but the thing I cannot get over is... they seem to have turned it into a heterosexual love story where Sebastian gets angry with Charles for wanting to be with his sister and using him as some sort of stepping stone.
Oh, yeah, there's an obligatory throwaway mention of Cara's comment about the Sebastian and Charles "friendship," but for all intents and purposes, the focus is strongly on Charles and Julia to the point where I have a hard time believing that the trailer doesn't represent the tone of the movie overall. They don't show much of Lord Marchmain, but the clip they do, Michael Gambon seems to be playing him almost like his character in the Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover: He seems almost lewd, if not downright threatening. But I won't be watching this to see -- for me, the original adaptation is pretty much as close to filmed perfection of a book as is humanly possible. It has the nuance, pathos, sophistication, all the things I loved about the book (and I highly disagree with people that it's a bad book). It's pitch perfect in every way, from Nickolas Grace's Antony Blanche to Simon Jones's clueless Bridey (whom, I was amused to note, IMDB lists in the new movie as "Bridley"). And of course, the main characters, especially Irons and Anthony Andrews, not to mention icy Claire Bloom, were peerless.
I understand the tempation to take this on with modern day sensibilities in film production and values. But they should have left it if they couldn't do justice to the story. It doesn't need updating. Certainly not with a faint homophobic whiff that would draw audiences who are afraid of too gay of a story. I made the mistake of watching the execrable remake of Pride & Prejudice (the ampersand should have told me right there that I wouldn't want to see it, but I love Matthew McFadyen and so... I was stupid) and I wanted to spork my freaking eyes out. I will not make the mistake of seeing this atrocity. I don't care how glorious this looks. If the story's wrong, it's wrong.
Oh, yeah, there's an obligatory throwaway mention of Cara's comment about the Sebastian and Charles "friendship," but for all intents and purposes, the focus is strongly on Charles and Julia to the point where I have a hard time believing that the trailer doesn't represent the tone of the movie overall. They don't show much of Lord Marchmain, but the clip they do, Michael Gambon seems to be playing him almost like his character in the Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover: He seems almost lewd, if not downright threatening. But I won't be watching this to see -- for me, the original adaptation is pretty much as close to filmed perfection of a book as is humanly possible. It has the nuance, pathos, sophistication, all the things I loved about the book (and I highly disagree with people that it's a bad book). It's pitch perfect in every way, from Nickolas Grace's Antony Blanche to Simon Jones's clueless Bridey (whom, I was amused to note, IMDB lists in the new movie as "Bridley"). And of course, the main characters, especially Irons and Anthony Andrews, not to mention icy Claire Bloom, were peerless.
I understand the tempation to take this on with modern day sensibilities in film production and values. But they should have left it if they couldn't do justice to the story. It doesn't need updating. Certainly not with a faint homophobic whiff that would draw audiences who are afraid of too gay of a story. I made the mistake of watching the execrable remake of Pride & Prejudice (the ampersand should have told me right there that I wouldn't want to see it, but I love Matthew McFadyen and so... I was stupid) and I wanted to spork my freaking eyes out. I will not make the mistake of seeing this atrocity. I don't care how glorious this looks. If the story's wrong, it's wrong.
