Brideshead Revisited (Blu-ray) (2008)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	None
Rating
Year Of Production	2008
Running Time	132:42
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Julian Jarrold
Studio Distributor	Icon Entertainment	Starring	Matthew Goode Thomas Morrison David Barrass Anna Madeley Sarah Crowden Stephen Carlile Peter Barnes Hayley Atwell Patrick Malahide Richard Teverson Joseph Beattie Ben Whishaw
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$39.95	Music	Adrian Johnston

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Unknown	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 English Dolby Digital 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Brideshead Revisited is a 2008 adaptation of the famous 1945 novel by Evelyn Waugh. Unfortunately, adapting the themes of the novel to this 133-minute film has proved a herculean task for Julian Jarrold and screenwriters Andrew Davies and Jeremy Brock. Evelyn Waugh's novel about the re-evaluation of early 20th century Edwardian values in England, with its rigid class system, during the 1930s and 1940s, an era when Britain was effected by war, and the need for people to redress their values is more implied in this film than stated. The film seems to settle for a character study based on the three main roles, Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode), the main protagonist and narrator, Julia Flyte (Hayley Atwell) and Sebastian Flyte (Ben Whishaw). The Flyte family come from the English nobility class and are staunchly catholic, Ryder is agnostic (atheistic in the film adaptation) and comes from a middle-class background. The film deals with his relationship with the Flyte family at their prestigious manor, Brideshead over a period of twenty years, although the film glosses over this amount of time.

    It would have been interesting to see what David Yates would have made of the film when he was set to direct it initially, with Paul Bettany, Jennifer Connelly and Jude Law cast in the main roles (which were re-cast when Jarrold was attached to the project) but left to direct Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Jarrold's effort to modernise the story by emphasising Charles and Sebastian's possible homosexual relationship and presenting Sebastian and Julia's mother, Lady Marchmain (Emma Thompson) as an overbearing religious and dogmatic overseer of her family, somewhat diminishes Evelyn Waugh's themes of grace and reconciliation that makes the novel so great. It is these themes that are alluded to at the end of the film when Charles revisits Brideshead manor during the war, but this isn't so explicit, just as Lord Marchmain's death (Sir Michael Gambon), whereby he reconciled his faith and left his inheritance to his eldest daughter Julia, rather than his eldest son, Lord Brideshead (thus the nickname 'Bridey')is an important plot point that is similarly glossed over in the film.

    Any serious fan of the novel would want to have a look at the brilliant 11-hour television mini-series from 1981 which explores the themes of the novel in more depth and includes actors, Sir John Gielgud, Sir Laurence Olivier and Jeremy Irons. As it stands, The 2008 version still holds interest, but it's not in the same class as Atonement.

Video

    The transfer of this film to Blu-ray is superb.

    The aspect ratio is 2:35:1. The film is 16x9 enhanced for widescreen televisions.

    The transfer is sharp, with a good range of contrast.

    Colour is vivid and bright throughout.

    There are no MPEG artefacts whatsoever.

    Subtitles are presented in English and are easy to follow.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio transfer for this film is similarly as good as the video transfer.

    There are two audio tracks, a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track and a Dolby Digital 5.1 track. The DTS-HD Master Audio track has more range in it's bass and is the soundtrack of choice in viewing the film.

    Dialogue is clear and the audio is synchronised.

    The music by Adrian Johnston is excellent, it really supports the screenplay well

    For a dramatic film, I was surprised at just how good the separation in my home theatre channels was. There was a significant amount of surround channel usage in the soundtrack throughout the film.

    The Subwoofer was also used well to support the screenplay, with good deep and clear bass effects.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    Surprisingly, Brideshead Revisited has not been released on Blu-ray in Region A United States yet, at the time of this review.

    The Region B United Kingdom release is 2-disc and contains a director's commentary, cast and crew interviews, a 'making of' featurette and an in-depth featurette on four pivotal scenes.

    The Region B Scandinavian release is similar to the Region B Australian release, with the 'making-of' featurette and cast and crew interview included.

    Finally, a Region B French release is identical to the Australian Region B release in that it has no extras. Subtitles are in English and French.

    Fans of the film would want to get the 2-disc Region B UK release of the film for the extras.

    Brideshead Revisited pales in comparison to the 1945 Evelyn Waugh novel of the same name and the 1981 television mini-series. The film still holds interest for fans as a decent adaptation constrained by the 133-minute running time.

    Despite not having any extras, Australian distributor, Icon Films Distribution Australia, have provided a fantastic video and audio transfer for this film, and should be lauded for their continued fine efforts on their Blu-ray releases.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall