This week I finally got to see the 2008 movie version of Brideshead Revisited. It is a worthy adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's famous British novel, although of necessity a very compact and much abridged screenplay, certainly compared to its original adaptation in the 1981 multi-episode television series. That series made stars of Jeremy Irons (as Charles Ryder) and Anthony Andrews (as Lord Sebastian Flyte) and they both left big shoes to fill by any successive actors. But I think that both Matthew Goode (as Charles Ryder) and Ben Whishaw (as Lord Sebastian Flyte) made those roles their own.
I think whoever plays Charles Ryder has the harder of the two roles. Ryder is naive, trusting, easily impressed by wealth and privilege, and not really sure who he is or what he wants. His personality seems rather dull, buttoned-down and pedestrian contrasted to the larger-than-life flamboyance and dramatic flair of Sebastian. Yet, alone of all the characters, Charles is in every scene because the movie is from his point of view. He must carry the film.
As it happens, this week I also binge-watched Matthew Goode play his most recent role as a very different character than the emotionally repressed Charles Ryder. He stars as Detective Chief Inspector Carl Morck in the Scottish crime thriller series Dept. Q, now streaming on Netflix. DCI Morck is a foul-mouthed, emotionally scarred, volatile, miserable sonovabitch who is almost impossible to work with.
Dept. Q. has been deservedly getting rave reviews and I highly recommend it too. It's gritty, with a big dose of violence, complex characters, good acting and an extremely well-written script and plot.
2 comments:
I desperately wanted to like "Dept. Q"; love Matthew Goode (thanks to Downton Abby), but... just could not get into it. I tried... I tried... I tried.
...when it comes to films, I'm illiterate.
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