Une poignée de cendre

Though I've been enjoying the movie very much, I'd rather not compare it with the original novel by Evelyn Waugh on which it was based. Because the very point of the savage satirical masterpiece is missing in this film, which turned out to be only the tragical drama about adultery, the death in the family, the "saintly" husband and a hypocritical bitch of a wife who ruined their perfect image of family for nothing (not very refreshing story, I'd say). The actors did their best, and the atmosphere is delivered perfectly, but...it's hard to say why - the filmmakers revealed to us only the surface image of what the story is really about. Lacking the deadly satire of the original novel - it's turned out to be another work entirely.

"I will show you fear in a handful of dust" (c) - they didn't manage to do it. They showed only the typical tragedy of the cliché-situation.

Therefore my rating - "6", for a nice picture and acting, but for entire lack of the whole point.

I decided to watch this purely on account of the magnificent cast, not realising it was another Evelyn Waugh adaptation. Maybe if I'd known, I wouldn't have bothered because I absolutely HATED Brideshead Revisited, also directed by Charles Sturridge. Perhaps the necessary compactness of a film adaptation compared to the lumbering drawn-out length of the Brideshead TV-series is what made it work for me.

What a magnificent film this is: sensitively directed, beautifully shot and the amazing cast absolutely spot-on. The understated performances of James Wilby and Kristin Scott Thomas as the two doomed main characters are just perfect to make this strange story come to life. The stellar supporting cast all add up to a feast of fine acting.

In my opinion, AN UNDERRATED MASTERPIECE.

A story that raises many questions, even good ones, but gives only a few answers. A great cast, James Wilby is for example excellent as Tony Last, goes to work in this beautifully filmed melodrama set in the early thirties i UK and Brazil. The period feeling is great and so are the settings. The story is built up around a doomed marriage, but it is hard to really understand why. There is a lot of smoke here but no real fire until the late and great Sir Alec Guiness comes to work in the last 30 minutes creating a frightening illiterate fan of Charles Dickens. But superb acting on all hands and high class camera-work is not enough although the film is worth watching especially if you have a love for British culture and history, and don't we all...

A really good book cannot be entirely simulated adequately on screen. There is too much going on underneath, too many subplots, too much conversation and description to undertake in two hours. Choices made by production folk determine which direction the film will go, generally accenting one plot line of or other and allowing the rest to fall to the wayside. HOD does a fine job with the route it takes, darkly stating the consequences of empty lives which rely on artifice for sustenance. These creatures were not creating their lives so much as feeding their idea of existence without exploration. The result is tragedy but the tragedy was already in existence. The actions of the trapped subjects simply began to reflect their emptiness. This doesn't make for a happy movie but it is instructive if one chooses to see the lessons. And as art, the acting, direction and cinematography are quite fine.

but well worth the time. The actors are perfection while the story is allowed to tell itself with crushing realism. This isn't a movie that is going to make you smile much but it will probably make you think.