The 11-episode British TV series "Brideshead Revisited" is adapted from Evelyn Waugh's novel of the same name. It was produced by Granada Television and premiered on ITV in the UK in October 1981. The story begins in Britain on the eve of World War II. It describes the life and destiny of a Catholic family in Brideshead Manor, a suburb of London. After the First World War, the old Marquis of Marchmain left his family and lived in Venice with his mistress for a long time; the scandals of his parents' lives left a mark of shame on their children and distorted their nature. Ryder, the narrator of this book, is also a participant in the story and has witnessed the decline and decline of this unfortunate family. Religion cannot save them. The author pays homage to the former splendor and prosperity of Brideshead with a desolate mood. It also reflects the thoughts of British intellectuals after World War II and their memories, sadness and disappointment.
This TV mini-series cost a lot of money and has a strong cast. John Gielgud (playing Charles' father) and Laurence Olivier are both famous actors who have been knighted. Anthony Andrews is a popular British youngster, and Jeremy Irons He rose to prominence with the play. "Brideshead" clearly reveals the British nostalgia for the British Empire in its heyday before World War I. The Oxford campus and the gorgeous Brideshead Manor were the glory and symbols of the British Empire. Granada spared no expense in creating the scenes. The total 12-hour TV series was said to have cost 4.5 million pounds, but the actual cost was estimated to be 11 million pounds. For example, the cost of filming 8 minutes on the Queen Elizabeth II cruise ship is as high as 500,000. Others such as "Brideshead" Manor (actually Castle Howard, the residence of BBC Chairman George Howard), Venice, Malta, and Gozo Island all reflect the extravagance in production. In sharp contrast to the luxury on the scene is the corrupt and decadent lifestyle of Sebastian and his dissolute friends. Sebastian's doll bear Aloysius also became popular among emerging white-collar men in the 1980s due to the show's fame. As the love affair between Charles and Julia develops, Sebastian becomes more and more depressed, and the idyllic Oxford and Brideshead gradually dim in the picture, replaced by a sad and sentimental atmosphere.
The show won the 1982 Emmy Awards for Best Miniseries, Best Actor (Anthony Andrews, Jeremy Irons), Best Supporting Actor and many other nominations. In the end, only Laurence Olivier won the Best Actor Supporting Actor Award. Anthony Andrews was originally selected to play the role of Charles, but after reading the novel, he decided that he was more suitable to play Sebastian. Sebastian was originally played by Jeremy Irons, and he was more interested in Charles, so the two swapped roles. .
The author Evelyn Waugh wrote at the beginning of the third part of this novel: "My theme is the memory of a group of winged things on a dark morning during the war. Flying around me. These memories are with me all the time and constitute my life..." These few sentences can be regarded as the keynote of this novel. This is the memory, sadness and disappointment of a British intellectual who experienced two world wars, especially the Second World War. Its mood reflects the thoughts of Britain after World War II, and it can also be said that the general intellectuals in the West.
The novel "Revisited" describes the life and destiny of a Catholic family in Brideshead Manor, a suburb of London.
The older generation of the family, the Marquis of Marchmain, went abroad to fight during World War I and did not return home after the war. He lived with his Italian mistress Carla in Venice for a long time. His wife, Lady Marchmain, lives in London. The couple is not at peace with each other. According to Catholic regulations, couples cannot divorce. In fact, they have been separated for a long time. Their eldest son Brideshead is the future heir to the title and manor (with the same name as the manor). He graduated from Oxford University and has an eccentric nature. His biggest hobby is collecting matchboxes. The second son Sebastian and the narrator Ryder are classmates and friends at Oxford University. They experienced ups and downs in their lives and lived in a foreign country. The eldest daughter, Julia, was famous for her beauty. She married politician and businessman Rex and lived an unhappy life. She was eventually divorced. She was a devout Catholic. The youngest daughter Cordelia also believes in Catholicism, but she considers herself to be the kind of person who is "neither suitable for secular life nor the strict rules of the monastery." She participated in the Spanish Civil War as a nurse, and later participated in the Spanish Civil War with Julia Went to serve in the Middle East during World War II.
The protagonist of the memories is Charles Ryder, the narrator of the book. He is not an ordinary narrator. His role in the novel is, first of all, to make the story seem intimate, real and moving through first-person narration; and Ryder's role goes beyond that. He is not an indifferent bystander, but a character in the novel. An important character, the entire story is revealed through his memories, running through his love and hate, his passion and sadness. The description of Ryder in the book is in-depth and full, especially the reproduction of his inner activities and feelings is very detailed and profound. When he was studying at Oxford University, he had contact with the Marchmain family due to his friendship with Sebastian. He became familiar with this family and saw the decline of this family with his own eyes. He himself lived a carefree and sometimes absurd life in Oxford. Later he went to France to study painting and became a famous architectural painter.
The Marchmains' long separation and the scandal of their lives left a mark of shame on the next generation of children. Mrs. Marchmain is a dual personality character. On the one hand, she was extremely devout and believed in God on the surface, always showing her enthusiasm for religious activities, and always trying to convert people around her to Catholicism. On the other hand, she lived a dissolute and dissolute life. The Marquis of Marchmain also lived an extremely luxurious life. He has a luxurious mansion in London, a very elegant manor in the suburbs - Brideshead, and a beautiful mansion in Venice, and he has a lifelong mistress, Carla. The entire family's waste has left him deeply in debt. This family's outward appearance of prosperity and wealth is just like the Rong Ning Mansion in "A Dream of Red Mansions". "Although the external airs have not fallen much, the internal pockets have been exhausted." The Marquis's moral corruption is despised by general public opinion.
Sebastian is one of the main characters in the book. His family, especially his mother, was a heavy burden on his mind. His mother used various means to force him to accept the shackles of religion, which made him very painful. Coupled with the scandal of his parents in the family, he drank to relieve his sorrow and became an alcoholic. In order to escape his mother, his family, and the world around him, he wandered to a monastery in Tunisia, North Africa, with a bad habit of alcoholism, and was taken in as a lowly gatekeeper. His life is a tragedy. His tragedy is shocking. It reflects that a young man in a sick society and a sick family is mentally depressed, empty, and confused to an alarming degree!
/2007/05/10/0000149340.html