Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Must watch. So romantic. Acting and cinematography are superb

My wife was reading the book, Brideshead Revisited, for her book club and wanted to simultaneously watch the Jeremy Irons television mini- series. Having seen the 2008 movie, we were both interested based on the previously seen movie and our generally positive opinion of the work of Jeremy Irons. While my wife's opinion is not as negative as mine, I can say that this is the most boring program through which I have sat one-third of the full length. I could not make it any further. It seemed as if a quarter of the story was told in narrative instead of acted out. In addition to the boredom, the introductory music for each episode was terrible.

The reviewers who have given positive feedback for this series have done quite well and I have little to add. Sadly, there was one review that seemed to miss the point, and I would like to address this:"We can suppose that Lord Marchmain pretended to convert to comfort his family. There is no such excuse for Charles, who has seen the damage that Catholicism did to the whole family."Wrong. It was the shirking of religious principle that tore apart the family. Lord Marchmain left Catholicism and thought he had license to leave his wife, so he abandoned his children to a confused, fatherless upbringing. Had he remained true to his sacramental vow to stay, "for better or for worse," by his wife's side, the family would never have been so dysfunctional.As for the vague homo-eroticism in the first few episodes, many young men at Oxford back in the day did go through such phases and often they were in fact merely PHASES. Evelyn Waugh himself apparently did.

Brideshead Revisited, by Arthur Evelyn Waugh, is one of the greatest and possibly luckiest books on the planet today. A truly heart-wrenching story of a decaying, idyllic society, it is fortunate enough to have this truly excellent TV Series to accompany it. I won't spoil it as it is truly a lovely, subtle narrative, but the actors (you won't get a much better cast anywhere else) portray the characters brilliantly. From Jeremy Irons' slightly unsure Charles Ryder (his slow, even narration is superb) to the hugely likable, but sadly doomed, Anthony Andrews as Sebastian Flyte. Castle Howard, as you will come to realise, is the perfect Brideshead for the series is a character in itself in the series as it seems to change with the general moods of the characters. All in all, this is a truly wonderful series that stays very true to the book. The sad thing is that there won't be many, if any, series like this in the future.