Basil

I must admit, Jared was the hook, but it was the story that kept me interested. Not quite 'Dangerous Liaisons' or 'The Remains of the Day', but this film was very enjoyable. Jared Leto and Christian Slater both did fine jobs playing Brits and I would recommend this film to anyone.

I watched this movie on AMC yesterday afternoon. I was glued to my television set for 2 hours. I didn't move a muscle. I must say that most of my faith in Christian Slater is restored. His work in this film is superb. I attempted to explain this movie to someone, but it was just too complicated. The story was excellent! Unfortunately, this film wasn't released in theaters. I certainly would have paid $6.50 to see it again.

"Basil" is a curiously compelling film. I rented it purely because it "looked Victorian" and I was in the mood for something different. It turned out to be very Victorian, a family saga set somewhere in the 19th Century. Wealthy, but not titled, father has two sons. His pompous and hypocritical Victorian "family values" provide the dramatic force for the story -- otherwise, it's just a bland Harlequin-type romance. The father's confrontations with sons over women end each time with decisions totally alien to our modern sensibilities. Very jarring. Jared Leto as Basil is a little strained in his acting, but always nice to look at. C. Slater is surprisingly (and obviously) good in this "historical" role, and he has a secret which provides a twist near the end. The end itself provides a strange turn that may make you wonder if Basil wouldn't have been happier in a new-age commune in modern New Mexico. Of course, it is basically a chick-flick....

A brit production, where the two leads are american. Basil's older brother had shamed the family, so he was sent away. Basil has always been careful around his dad, but there may be a showdown coming! Father doesn't approve of the young lady for whom basil has fallen. Mannion has become basil's friend, and will try to help. Julia's father agrees to the wedding, but they may not consummate the marriage until it is too late for basil to be dis-inherited. It's okay. The first half is pretty slow. The script is rather sparse, and we feel the desolation that basil feels. Twists, turns, intrigue. In the close-ups, faces, eyes, wallpaper, paintings are quite vivid. In the wide shots, everything and everyone is a bit faded, or foggy. It's possible they did something to the film to give it an aged look, like sepia. Directed by radha bharadwaj. Story by wilkie collins.

In Basil's secret and unconsummated marriage to the linen-draper's sexually precocious daughter, and the shocking betrayal, insanity, and death that follow, novelist Wilkie Collins reveals the bustling, commercial London of the nineteenth century wreaking its vengeance on a still powerful aristocratic world. Contemporary reviewers of the novel vehemently disapproved of that explicit treatment of adultery; and even today the passionate and lurid atmosphere Collins creates still has the power to disturb. 'Basil' has a good basic plot, but the protagonist is difficult to like. His reasoning is unconvincing, and his actions verge on stupidity. There are also plot holes, things that just don't make logical sense. Basil has flaws, but it began the mystery thriller that Collins would adopt later on in The Moonstone and The woman in white. Whereas in 'The Moonstone' things are difficult to predict, and unable to see where things are going, 'Basil' isn't discreet enough, there are no red herrings, what you read are the glaringly obvious hints that lead the story on and lead you to guess the subsequent events. This makes watching 'Basil' a lot less thrilling. There is too much foreshadowing, and too much of it is made very clear. Oddly enough, Basil is more popular among all the movie versions of Collins' works. It is far from being the best of them, though.