Opening

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—— A Green Story May 24
—— Alyce Kills May 24

Top Box Office

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Coming Soon

—— After Earth May 31
—— Now You See Me May 31
88% The East May 31
100% The Kings of Summer May 31

Brideshead Revisited (2008)

tomatometer

63

Average Rating: 6.1/10
Reviews Counted: 128
Fresh: 80 | Rotten: 48

Suspenseful and beautifully mounted, Brideshead Revisited does an able job condensing Evelyn Waugh's novel.

72

Average Rating: 6.5/10
Critic Reviews: 36
Fresh: 26 | Rotten: 10

Suspenseful and beautifully mounted, Brideshead Revisited does an able job condensing Evelyn Waugh's novel.

audience

52

liked it
Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 21,503

My Rating

Movie Info

Evelyn Waugh's classic novel of love and the British class system has been given a polished screen adaptation in this film version from director Julian Jarrold. The tale opens during WWII, when Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode), an English military officer, is stationed at a country estate that has been converted into a military base. Jarrold uses this time-frame and setting as a framing device, and then flashes back in time to Charles' days as a scholar in the 1920s. It becomes clear that he was

PG,

Drama

Jeremy Brock, Andrew Davies

Jan 13, 2009

$6.4M

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All Critics (132) | Top Critics (36) | Fresh (83) | Rotten (49) | DVD (9)

Performances are good - Thompson and Gambon impress - but the insipid music is dreadful.

October 3, 2008 Full Review Source: Time Out
Time Out
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Thompson, though, is marvelous; with understated precision and grace, she makes every word count. Also excellent is Michael Gambon.

August 1, 2008 Full Review Source: Miami Herald
Miami Herald
Top Critic IconTop Critic

What's missing from Goode's performance and from the film as whole is the layer upon layer of accumulated motive -- the gradual evolution of a man's complex desires and even-more-complicated fears.

August 1, 2008 Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | Comment (1)
Houston Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

If you're in the market for a veddy British drama and miss seeing Emma Thompson in her natural environment, Brideshead Revisited is a worthwhile two-hour meditation on faith (and the lack thereof).

July 31, 2008 Full Review Source: Arizona Republic
Arizona Republic
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Yes, it's a compressed version, but I found it very enjoyable.

July 28, 2008
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic IconTop Critic

If it's a choice between the movie's 135 minutes or the 659 minutes of the miniseries, I'd say it's no choice at all. The shorter version is the one that seems long.

July 25, 2008 Full Review Source: Wall Street Journal
Wall Street Journal
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Tepid

August 26, 2009 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comment (1)
Slant Magazine

A bleak and often befuddling 2-hour-15-minute disappointment.

August 14, 2009 Full Review Source: Times-Picayune | Comment (1)
Times-Picayune

slow and beautiful, rather than intense, dramatic and insightful

April 4, 2009 Full Review Source: Screenwize
Screenwize

it still has the high-class dramatic feel you'd expect from something you would have watched on PBS twenty years ago

March 5, 2009 Full Review Source: 7M Pictures
7M Pictures

Occasionally interesting, always beautiful and regularly tedious, the film attempts to capture a time and a feeling yet it ultimately fails to provide the depth needed to make it wholly successful.

January 25, 2009 Full Review Source: Movie Views

In the end, you're torn between praising the atmosphere and performances and lamenting the second-act sag.

January 17, 2009 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis
Movie Metropolis

Extras on the disc include a full length audio commentary, a set of deleted scenes, and a featurette on the making of the film.

January 7, 2009 Full Review Source: Apollo Guide
Apollo Guide

Certainly passable, but less than spectacular, Brideshead Revisited is an authentic and decent adaptation of a well-known novel, but nothing more.

January 7, 2009 Full Review Source: Apollo Guide
Apollo Guide

The events in the film felt rushed and overly obvious, as if Harry Potter's adopted parents dressed him in an "Ask me about wizardry" t-shirt before Hagrid ever turned up.

November 9, 2008 Full Review Source: Cinerina

Those with warm memories of the BBC television serial in the 1980s will find much in this Brideshead to enjoy.

October 31, 2008 Full Review Source: The Australian
The Australian

Even if the material is familiar, even if it has been done well before, there is room in a great book for a new interpretation.

October 31, 2008 Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald
Sydney Morning Herald

Audience Reviews for Brideshead Revisited

Not spectacular, but an interesting drama with good performances and a strong story about family, religion and faith that may leave you thinking about it long after the film is over.
May 9, 2010
blacksheepboy

Super Reviewer

Dull, slow moving but visually beautiful. Uncharismatic leads are blown off the screen whenever Emma Thompson is on, displaying her range by playing a markedly different character than usual and as always doing it masterfully. Once she's gone from the scene its just pretty pictures with people you neither really like or care about.
August 25, 2008
jjnxn
jay nixon

Super Reviewer

    1. Sebastian Flyte: I should like to bury something precious, in every place I've been happy. And then when I was old, and ugly and miserable, I could come back, and dig it up, and remember.
    – Submitted by Rocío R (15 months ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • Wiedersehen mit Brideshead (DE)
  • Regreso a la mansion Brideshead (ES)
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