Customer Reviews
Finely honed film about thoughtless interpersonal cruelty. - By: pointone, 26 Apr 2008 
A great adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's novel about self absorbed people in relationships but oblivious to their partners feeling to the point of sadistic cruelty.
I wanted to kick Tony Last (James Wilbey) as he placidly accepts his wife's sudden decision to have a London flat, study economics whilst he remains in his beloved country house. Brenda Last (Kristin Scott Thomas) is of course having an affair with frankly boring self seeking penniless John Beaver (Rupert Graves), supported by his rather nasty mother (Judi Dench).
Highly recommended & absorbing film about people you would never want to know.
Doesn't quite make it - By: Jon Freeman, 25 Mar 2008 
Other reviews of this film are quite polarised & I think I am the first to put it in the middle at 3 stars. I find it hard to pinpoint why it fails, but somehow the chemistry is just not there. The slow pace that works so well in Brideshead just feels slack. Good actors that don't do anything wrong, but simply don't ignite in any way. Arguably this reflects perfectly the hollowness of the dying upper-class system at the time, but it makes it reallly hard to care about any of the characters. The one who is the greatest "victim" - despite being a reallly nice man - is so dreadfully ineffectual that one even ends up feeling he deserves his fate, & so the emotional impact is lacking. But you might feel differently, so don't dismiss it out of hand. If you like period pieces, & enjoyed Brideshead, it might work for you.
A star stutted movie, great filming and style and still something was missing - By: Klaus Meyer, 03 Jan 2008 It is one of those movies which capture the decadence of the British upper-class in the period before the WW II. In the centre of it alll is a woman (Kristin Scott Thomas) who seems to have it alll - a great husband, wealth, a title, a huge country house & a lovely child, but she longs for excitement & forgets what she has: the husband is boring, the country house ugly .... She goes for a penniless socialite & keeps him, till the money runs out. The child dies in an accident & the boring husband goes of to the jungles of Brazil only be kept there by a mad man in order to read to him. Declared dead the widow marries one of his friends & fallls back on her feet. It is a strange story & especiallly the Brazil jungle bit a bit rich for my taste. All the actors - James Wilby, Kristin Scott Thomas, Rupert Graves, Anjelica Huston, Judi Dench & Alec Guinness - are superb & portray their characters to perfection. But oddly there is still something missing & it is very hard to boil sown what it is. It maybe partly the story itself, partly a certain sparkle is missing. It is no Gosford Park. So it is understandable that this movie does not make it & is largely forgotten. I still liked it, but it would be too much to declare it a hidden gem.
What was this all about - By: E. Harding, 06 Dec 2007 
Almost two hours of complete rubbish.
Struggle to keep awake.
Save your money & watch the grass grow. More interesting.
Ted
Loved it! - By: J. Murray, 17 Jun 2007 
I decided to watch this purely on account of the magnificent cast, not realising it was another Evelyn Waugh adaptation. Maybe if I'd known, I wouldn't have bothered because I absolutely HATED Brideshead Revisited.
But what a magnificent film: sensitively directed, beautifully shot & the amazing cast absolutely spot-on. The understated performances of James Wilby & Kristin Scott Thomas as the two doomed main characters are just perfect to make this strange story come to life. The stellar supporting cast alll add up to a feast of fine acting.
In my opinion, AN UNDERRATED MASTERPIECE.
(If I could give it six stars out of five I would!)
