At first look, there isn’t a whole lot in common between Evelyn Waugh’s acclaimed novel Brideshead Revisited and Alan Moore’s seminal graphic novel Watchmen. But both are revered works of fiction, and Matthew Goode (The Lookout) shoulders the responsibility of carrying a lead roll in film adaptations stemming from the two literary masterpieces.
With Brideshead Revisited hitting theaters Friday and the Watchmen trailer flooding theaters before The Dark Knight, Goode has a lot – the future of his career – riding on his next two films.
“I’m not terribly well known, and the last thing you want to become known for is f—ing up Brideshead,” Goode said. “But then again, knowing that Emma [Thompson] and Michael [Gambon] were already cast, I thought, ‘Well, if we’re going to go down, at least I’m in good company.'”
In a sit-down interview with The Diamondback, Goode admitted his initial reservations about playing Charles Ryder, a role the 30-year-old actor considers his finest and most challenging moment yet.
Aiming for a much more radical interpretation of the novel than the renowned 1981 television series (starring Jeremy Irons as Ryder), director Julian Jarrold (Becoming Jane) and the screenwriters Jeremy Brock and Andrew Davies opted to flesh out the fated love story in Brideshead over the novel’s religious critique. The filmmakers chose an all-British cast to best portray Waugh’s classic tale chronicling the downfall of the Anglo aristocracy through the Flyte family.
Ryder, who Goode describes as “the loneliest child ever,” encounters a world of unimaginable wealth and beauty when he befriends the hedonistic Sebastian Flyte (a simply brilliant Ben Whishaw, I’m Not There) while studying at Oxford. After considerable hesitation, Sebastian brings his new friend back to meet his family at the sprawling Brideshead Manor.
Beautifully photographed at the historic Castle Howard (as the 1981 miniseries and Barry Lyndon before it), the Brideshead scenes are sublime. Lenser Jess Hall captures the vibrant sunsets of Ryder’s first summer away at the estate, contrasted with the icy interiors where the Flyte family’s strict adherence to Catholicism reigns supreme.
As Sebastian quickly falls for Ryder – a plot point only subtly hinted at in Waugh’s novel – Ryder turns to Sebastian’s sister, Julia (Hayley Atwell, Cassandra’s Dream).
“Obviously it’s hard for Sebastian because he’s in love with Charles,” Goode noted. “It’s much more interesting if Charles isn’t gay. And Evelyn Waugh bangs on about how alike in manner and look Sebastian and Julia are. You can understand, with hormones racing at the age of 18 … if he was in love with this guy, but in a platonic way, there would be transference to her.”
The transition from Sebastian to Julia is a rocky one for Ryder, though extremely well played by the younger end of the cast. As an atheist, Ryder cannot hope to please the devout Flyte matriarch, Lady Marchmain (Thompson Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) and win Julia’s hand. Eventually, the Brideshead fantasy comes crashing down.
“He does everything that’s asked of him and more, and that gets him into trouble,” said Goode, later describing Ryder as a character “desperately seeking love and understanding because he doesn’t know what it is.”
Jarrold’s Brideshead Revisited handles the drama and psychology with delicacy, only getting a little sloppier when attempting to directly address Waugh’s critique on religion. Ryder and the Flyte family’s discussions on faith never completely gel, but the performers, young and old, sell the piece 100 percent.
Goode’s straight-faced Ryder proves to be complex and rich in ambiguity, no small task when pitted against Sebastian’s manic alcoholism, as played by Whishaw with just the right amount of flamboyance and wistful hopelessness.
With hardly any voiceover, the brunt of the narrative voice remains implied. Goode, aided by Jarrold’s tight direction, allows us to see Brideshead Revisited through Ryder’s wide eyes. Ryder is an “incredibly unobliging lead man,” Goode said in reference to his character’s role as the quiet catalyst.
“You really earn your cash, not to sound crass,” he added.
As the film enters its final stretch, the impending doom of World War II and the decay of Brideshead intertwine while Ryder desperately fights to cling to his halcyon days with the Flyte children at the sprawling estate.
“He obviously knows how much they hate it, but he feels he can convince them,” Goode said. “Religion has created some of the most beautiful art in the world – that’s part of his conflict, I suppose. [Brideshead] is the only place he’s ever truly been happy, so it’s of course where he wants to go back to.”
zherrm@umd.edu
RATING: 3.5 out of 5 stars
