This film explores the story of two young men who meet in Oxford. Charles Ryder gets to know another man, Sebastian Flyte. In a short while, Charles invites his new friend to have lunch with him. Perhaps things became clear when Charles shared with the family of Sebastian, their Catholic peers in the Protestant kingdom, which is ideal for both.
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.
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.
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.
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).
