Comparison of the 1981 and 2008 editions of "After the Wind and Rain in the Hometown"

Fredrick 2022-10-29 20:02:31

"After the Wind and Rain", formerly known as "Brideshead Revisited", was adapted from the novel by the famous British writer Evelyn Waugh. It tells the fate of two generations of a noble family in the Brideshead manor on the outskirts of London on the eve of World War II. The first-person narration is quite the style of the British "Dream of Red Mansions".

The novel was adapted into an 11-episode miniseries in 1981, with a strong cast and excellent production, and was nominated for multiple Emmys, with Lawrence Oliver winning Best Supporting Actor. Sebastian, played by Anthony Andrews, fascinated a group of girls, this role is a milestone in his own acting career; the film is also a famous work by Jeremy Irons, and since then his star has been magnanimous. In 2008, it was remade into a movie, which was made by the British himself, and the protagonists were also famous stars. If you don't watch the TV series, the movie viewing experience is okay; after watching the TV series for more than 10 hours, and then watching the movie version, you can't bear to look directly. I just wanted to ask the screenwriter of the movie version: Aren't you afraid that Mr. Evelyn came out of the coffin and beat you up? Is good stuff so spoiled?

Let's compare the two versions:

1. Characters

1) Anthony Blanche

A classmate at Sebastian High School and Oxford, sissy, stuttering and talkative. The iconic action is holding a wine glass, gushing endlessly, with a coquettish and enchanting figure, flirting with winking eyes, raising his head at a 45-degree angle, and rolling his eyes when he stutters. He was an early friend of Sebastian Oxford, whom Sebastian became estranged from after he met Charles. In the TV series, Anthony is particularly eye-catching every time he appears, and he is amazing, and his performance is too characteristic. In the movie version, he is still quite girly, and the character completion is much less than the previous version.

2) The Marquise of Marchmain

Catholic, with both beauty and wealth, he and the Marquis have two sons and two daughters, and he devoted his life to shaping his husband and children according to his own ideas. Under her painstaking efforts, her husband escaped from Brideshead Manor and settled in Italy with his lover; among the four children, Julia and Sebastian rebelled and were unhappy; A widow with three children past childbearing age; the youngest daughter Cordelia, devoted to religion, never married. This beautiful woman had a good hand in her hand, but she played a pulpy.

In the TV series, the Marquise is beautiful and dignified, she speaks softly, like a spring breeze blowing her face, at first touch she feels gentle and amiable, thoughtful and considerate; In order to control Sebastian, she first quietly courted Charles, but to no avail, then sent someone to monitor her son, and finally directly asked Sebastian to either drop out of Oxford or live with the person she arranged. , accept 24-hour supervision. This is how much I love my son!

The movie version of the Marquise has a strong aura, showing a crushing tendency everywhere, like a queen who is aloof. In one scene, she directly made Sebastian cry, and looked at Charles like a flower in a fog. Is this still the devious style of the Marchioness? It feels less layered.

3) Charles

The TV version of Charles is played by Jeremy Irons. This gentleman is tall and thin, with a sense of loss and some kind of blur in his eyes, which is most suitable for performing a film in a literary tone. Charles is the protagonist of the book, who witnessed the rise and fall of Brideshead Manor in the first person. He was just a passer-by. Because of his feelings for Sebastian and Julia, he was also given a gift of unhappiness. Middle-aged, alone, lost custody of the child, and Julia fell in love with each other but could not be together.

Charles himself said that his Oxford life started with Sebastian. The implication is that the previous college life was wasted, and the two met late. He and Sebastian are rational and emotional. Charles can fully tolerate Sebastian, and they feel comfortable with each other together. Sebastian was drunk, and Charles looked at him with concern and heartache; Sebastian jumped over the wall to find Charles late at night, fell down and was caught, and had a hysterical attack, only Charles could calm him down; Sebastian was about to drop out of school, and Charles packed his bags for him, put his teddy bear in the box gently, and put his pillow on it; on the cruise, Julia asked Charles why he married his current wife, and his answer was : "Physical attraction; ambition, everyone said she was suitable for being a painter's wife; loneliness, missing Sebastian". Being with Julia, on the one hand they were attracted to each other, and on the other hand he felt that he sensed Sebastian through Julia. Some people say that Charles is unfeeling. In my opinion, the tragedy of Sai is caused by religion and family. Charles can't save him. In a way, Charles is also a victim, he is just more rational.

The movie version of Charles was played by Matthew Goode, handsome and lifeless, so he didn't make any impression on me. The film version adapted Charles very badly, which made the character suddenly wretched.

4) Sebastian

A noble born, with a peerless appearance and a bright future, but a character who is willing to degenerate and cannot read. The TV version is played by Anthony Andrews, who was in his prime at that time, with blond hair, radiant eyes, and a lively and light body. In the first half, Sebastian was sunny and handsome, holding a big teddy bear "Aloysius" wherever he went, which is a landscape of Oxford University. He was drunk and vomited in Charles's window, looking at Charles helplessly and innocently, making people hate it. How charismatic is Andrews to be able to make the vomiting scene so playful?

In the second half, Sebastian became more and more depressed, more and more taciturn, and used alcohol to anesthetize himself. His mother is a devout Catholic and the family has a private church, but his sexuality is a heinous sin in religion, and he calls himself a sinner. Rebellious and bewildered, the conflict between his true self and reason is growing, and despite escaping the Brideshead estate, he does not break free mentally, and uses alcohol to obtain peace of mind.

After dinner the Marchioness read a passage from the Bible, which was a metaphor for the fate of the Marquis, Julia and Sebastian: "Yes, he said, I caught him, with an invisible hook and an invisible hook. The line. That line was long enough that he could feel the sting in his back even as he wandered to the end of the world." The three of them ended up in the same path, spent their entire lives fighting religion, and eventually converted.

The film version of Sebastian is played by Ben Whishaw, who plays the male lead of "Perfume". He is somewhat dark and thin, with a gloomy temperament, which is completely different from the Andrews version of Sebastian. Ben is acting very motherly, because the movie version's positioning of Sebastian is gay, woohoo! In my opinion, the film version is the best, but the adaptation is too out of character, and the actors have limited space to play. The worst thing is that the teddy bear in the movie has also shrunk, and the shape is not cute.

2. Storyline

The most intolerable thing about the movie version is that the screenwriter changed the relationship between Charles, Sebastian and Julia into a love triangle between three people. This kind of bloody plot appears in Qiong Yao's drama, but it's a bit low to appear in this drama. In the movie version, Charles and Julia have flirted with each other since they met. Charles knew that Sebastian liked him. He couldn't give Sebastian what he wanted, so he continued to communicate with him and used him to get close to Julia . Just like a deliberate emotional speculator.

In Venice, Sebastian watched Charles and his sister make out, saddened, and then drank all day. The film version simply and crudely blames Charles for Sebastian's alcoholism, weakening the religious theme.

In the movie, at Julia's engagement ball, Charles was very sad, and the slightly drunk Sebastian tried to comfort Charles and acted a little intimacy. Charles reacted too radically and blurted out: "No!" Immediately attracted the attention of the audience, Saiba Sian said sadly: "You don't care about me. All you ever wanted is to sleep with my sister." Forgive me for being in the drama, I wasn't impressed at all. This was said from the mouth of a nobleman. At his sister's engagement ball, he felt that it did not fit the character setting. The movie version has made too many changes to the plot, coupled with time constraints, the story cannot be fully developed, the plot development feels abrupt, and the persuasiveness is weak.

In short, the biggest victim in the movie version is Charles. In the original book, the painter with the same soul as Sebastian is portrayed as an emotional liar, coveted Brideshead Manor, and ambitious middle-class image. Alas! I cried a lot for Charles!

3. Narration

The TV version is a narration read by Jeremy Irons, and Uncle Tie won the Emmy Award for best narration. His reading makes people feel that the characters have gone through vicissitudes of life, come from the dusty past, come from the fog-shrouded Brideshead manor, and have a strong sense of immersion. The sound is timeless, lingering in my ears for a long time. The good narration in the movie is gone, and the sense of age has also disappeared.

Finally, it is recommended to watch the TV version directly if you want to watch it. Those parents who want their children to become dragons and their daughters to become phoenixes also suggest taking a look, not to follow in the footsteps of Mrs. Marchmain.

Tribute to a classic!

By Jessica

2018-06-10

View more about Brideshead Revisited reviews