1408

US, 2007, 95 minutes, Colour.
John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Mary Mc Cormack, Len Cariou, Tony Shalhoub.
Directed by Mikael Hafstrom.

Stephen King seems to have a thing about hotels, the sinister potential of hotels. This was true of The Shining. It is very much true of 1408. Based on one of his short stories, this is quite eerie and frequently frightening stuff.

John Cusack is a writer, sceptical, very sceptical, who writes books about haunted locations, especially hotels which make claims for ghosts (and tourists). His signature comment to fans is, ‘Stay scared’. That is the last thing he is expecting for himself. But, of course, we know that this is what is going to happen.

He responds to a challenge to stay in the haunted room, 1408, (56 deaths have taken place in it), at the Dolphin Hotel in New York. The Manager, Samuel L. Jackson, does his best to persuade him against it.

The film builds up the tension gradually so that we experience menace, anticipation and, then, the real thing with terrifyingly effective special effects. There is a moment when we reach a climax which momentarily seems like an anticlimax and we think, ‘is that all there is…?’. And, the answer is ‘definitely not’. Back to room 1408.

John Cusack is centre screen all the time, often by himself for a long time in room 1408. He is very persuasive. This film returns us to the heyday of Stephen King films of the 1980s like Christine, Dead Zone, Firestarter.

1.The popularity of Stephen King? His novels? Screen adaptations? A long tradition? Fear and terror? Ghosts and haunted places, hotels?

2.Psychological fear, inner fear from the psyche? Confronting one’s life and one’s past? Dreams? Nightmares? Catharsis or not?

3.The authentic atmosphere, Los Angeles, the beaches and the surf? The book tours? The bookshops? The world of agents, motels and people at the desk, hospitals?

4.The hotels, Michael as sceptical? His investigations, his books? Visiting the motel with no ghosts? The book-signing, the readers and their questions, his sardonic remarks? His slogan, ‘Stay scared’?

5.The letters, collecting them, his attitude, reading them? The card about not entering room 1408? His making the decision, the booking, through the agents, the discussions with them, the legal advice, the threat of legal action?

6.Michael as a character, age, experience, the writer, his back-story, his wife, his daughter’s illness, her death? Belief in God? His disbelief? His vanishing?

7.The meeting with Olin? The staff at the hotel, Olin and his argument against 1408? In his office, the argument, the drink, the challenge? Surviving one hour? His later appearance as Mike peered into the cupboard? The argument, his final congratulations to Mike?

8.1408: its history, the newspaper research, 1938, the suicides, an evil room, the electrician not going in, the staff and the phone calls? An ordinary room, his taping his responses?

9.The build-up for the terror: the heat in the room, the Carpenters song continually coming on, pulling out the plugs, the clock and one hour to go, the countdown, the open window, coming down on his hand, the blood, the towel? Seeing himself in the opposite window? The locks breaking and the key? The pictures on the wall? His drinking, the cigarette in his ear? Going outside, along the ledge, his fall and grasp, the ghost jumping out of the window, his feeling welcomed back into the room, setting up the computer, talking to his wife, the room icing over? Seeing Kate, his memories, talking with her? The ship in the painting, the flood in the room? Taking him back to his accident in the surf, hitting his head, the lifeguard, going to hospital, waking up and finding his wife? In Los Angeles?

10.Writing his story, his wife’s advice, his memories, going to the post office, the men breaking the walls, it becoming room 1408? Trapped, the Groundhog Day syndrome? His collapse? Going to the hospital, in New York, his wife visiting him?

11.The character of his wife, her devotion? Mystery of his departing? Kate, her illness? His packing, the computer, hearing the tape recording – and Kate’s voice? His wife hearing it? The sudden ending of the film?

12.Audience experiencing and sharing the fears and the terror?

HUD

US, 1963, 110 minutes, Black and white.
Paul Newman, Patricia Weal, Melvyn Douglas, Brandon de Wilde.
Directed by Martin Ritt.

Hud is a contemporary western about the clash between a slick, go-getting son and his traditional, cattle-man father. It is vivid in its presentation of what happens on today's ranches, the life, cattle, diseases. The fact that it is modern - the town, its bars, shops, cinemas - help an audience identify more readily with the values the film stands for.

Paul Newman is Hud, to-day's selfish young man with a chip on his shoulder, tarnishing everything he touches. His status symbol and his weapon is his car. His stern and highly principled father is shocked by his son's ruthlessness. To highlight the generation gap, Hud's nephew, Lonnie, veers unsteadily at times between imitating Hud and following his grandfather's principles.

Martin Ritt always gives a strong sense of the social background of his films (e.g. A Man is Ten Feet Tall, The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, The Brotherhood, The Molly Maguires). It is true of Hud. The widescreen photography of the arid ranch and the cattle is excellent, especially the moving sequence of the destruction of the cattle. Ritt also directed Newman in Paris Blues, The Long Hot Summer, The Outrage, Hombre. Newman was nominated for an Oscar for his performance here but did not win it. However, Patricia Neal won the Oscar for the Best Actress of 1963 for her portrayal of the tired housekeeper, Alma. Melvyn Douglas won the Oscar for best supporting actor in his role as Hud's father. It is a fine performance.

1. What does this Western have in common with other Westerns as regards story and theme?

2. Does the fact that it is a contemporary Western (and therefore, different, while in many ways similar to other Westerns) make us alert to its themes and values?

3. The main characters speak of principles, that Hud "couldn't give a damn" and that this was his main failure. Would you say that 'principles' is a major theme of the film?

4. What does the film say about the generation gap? This seems to
centre on Hud in so far as "Daddy" is too old and Lonnie too young. Is this true?

5. Hud is selfish. Whose fault is this? Does Hud like himself? Why?

6. Is Hud too self-centered or his father too hard? Hud says his "Daddy" was so good that he himself had to be bad. What does the film say about Hud and right and wrong?
- the substitution of the car as status symbol and weapon?
- drink and his brother's death?
- sex and other men's wives?
- about selling diseased cattle?
- the attempted assault on Alma?
- manoeuvring Lonny to like him?
- getting property?
- honesty, Hud winning the pig chase?

7. Is Hud a hero? is he meant to be one?

8. Does the fact that Paul Newman plays Hud make any difference to your reaction?

9. Is his father likeable? His patience and goodness, and principles?

10. Does Lonny form an adequate contrast with Hud - he is good, likeable, conscientious, while Hud is 'mean'?

11. What function does Alma play in the film? As a women? As the housekeeper?

FACE/OFF

US, 1997, 140 minutes, Colour.
John Travolta, Nicolas Cage, Joan Allen, Gina Gershon, Allesandro Nivola, Harve Presnell, Dominique Swaim, Nick Cassavetes.
Directed by John Woo.

Face/Off is an extraordinary tour-de-force of spectacular action adventure from Hong Kong's John Woo. However, Woo is also interested in the psychological dimensions of his thrillers. With FBI agent, John Travolta, pursuing terrorist, Nicholas Cage, and then, defying credibility, changing places (and faces) with each other, there is a great deal of interest in the complementarity of the two mirror image characters.

Woo also used religious icons in his Hong Kong films and the final shootout here is in a church with crucifixes, candles, flowers and doves in slow motion to give symbolic dimensions to this confrontation between good and evil. Action with panache and psychological flair.

1.The success of the film at the box office? Worldwide? Its action appeal? Imaginative appeal? Psychological?

2.The work of John Woo as an action director? His Hong Kong films? His Hollywood films? The transferring of the Hong Kong style and conventions to Hollywood films?

3.The impact of the action sequences, their choreographed and balletic style, the special effects? The musical score backing the action?

4.The Los Angeles setting: the city and its buildings, homes, the offshore prison, government offices, the church, the harbour? Los Angeles as a background character to the film?

5.The significance of the title? The face-off between the two? The literal surgical operation?

6.The introduction to Sean: the killer and having Sean and his son in the gun's sights, the merry-go-round, the affection between father and son, the death and the grief? His own injury and scar and keeping it? The passing of the six years, his continued obsession? His relationship with Eve and her wanting him to move out of his work and come home? Jamie and her dress, teenage attitudes, rebellion? His tough stances with his staff? His upholding the law? His vengeance for Castor?

7.The introduction to Castor: the killing and his attitude towards the death of the child? His attacking Sean? The passing of the six years? His disguise as a priest, putting the bomb in place, the choir with Handel's Messiah, his lewd dance and sexual behaviour with the member of the choir? The irony with his appearance? His relationship with his brother, caring for him, tying his shoelace? His blend of terrorism with glee?

8.The plane, the agent on the plane and the sexual encounter - and Castor kissing and killing her? The pursuit, the pilot, his being killed? The cars and Sean chasing the plane? The tension for the crashes? The plane crashing into the hangar, the chase, the confrontation, the face-off, the shootout? Castor and his injury? Being taken into custody? Pollocks and his arrest? The death of the agents? The visualising of the shootout - the bullets and Woo's using slow-motion and effects style? The huge blast?

9.Sean and his return to the office, his applause? His concern about the dead agents and his stern attitude? His discussions with his boss and responsibility? The possibility of retirement, going home, the bond with Eve, his love for her, the facial gesture over his wife's and daughter's face? The promise that he would come home? Jamie, her rebellion and his reaction?

10.The build-up to the bomb situation? Information about the bomb, the interrogation of Castor's associates, Sascha and her hostility towards Sean, her brother and his friendship with Castor? The stand-off and the defiance? The official coming with information about the bomb, the tape, the proposal for the changing of faces, the credibility of such literal undercover activity? The point of no return? His going to see his wife, her disappointment in his change of heart? Dr Walsh and his skills, the visuals of the literal operation?

11.Sean, the surgery, the computer techniques, the laser surgery, the face coming off, Sean becoming Castor? The face and the emotional change? His wanting the wound kept when he returned? The irony of Castor awaking, the phone call, without his face, bringing the doctors back, forcing them to transfer Sean's face? The brutality of his killing and burning of the staff and agents?

12.Sean and his going to prison as Castor, the scorn of his fellow agents? The theme of the wrong man? The nature of the prison, the magnetic boots, the computer control? The encounter with Pollocks, trying to persuade him that he was Castor, the discussion about the pills? Establishing trust? The fights, the brutality, imitating Castor's mania? The guards and their brutality and Sean's response? The fight in the dining room? Sean asserting Castor's supremacy? Credibility? The criminals and their support of him? The exercise yard, the cigarette? The irony of Castor visiting him with Sean's face, Sean in a more desperate situation? Getting the information from Pollocks about the bomb? The futility with Castor's visit? The setting up of the escape, the guards and their reaction, the mayhem? The associate and his help, his violence and his death? Getting out into the air, discovering that the prison was offshore, on top of the rigger, the helicopters and their pursuit, the dive into the bay?

13.Castor impersonating Sean? Imitating Sean's manner but his entirely different attitude, wanting to be the celebrity with his staff, their reaction to him? The interactions with his boss? His persuasiveness in getting Pollocks out of the jail? Treating Pollocks as an informer, yet feting him with a special dinner? Setting himself up as a hero, the melodrama and the flair of the defusing of the bomb, the split-second timing? The television interviews and his address to Sean in prison? His going home - missing the house and having to go back? His impersonation of Sean at home, audiences knowing his lewd background and the menace to Eve and to Jamie? His discussions with Jamie, invading her room, the cigarettes? Her trying to understand the change? His trying to be a father - and the brutality of his bashing the boyfriend who made advances on Jamie? Eve and the seduction? Manipulation of her? His success at home and at work, the applause? The authorities wanting him to tone down his investigations - and his brutality in killing the boss?

14.Sean and his escape, the desperate phone calls to Eve, visiting Sascha, the background of Sascha and her son Adam, the irony that he was cast as son and the parallel with Sean's own dead son? The lavish house, Sascha's brother and the drugs, the thugs and the girls? Sean and his trying to get some base to attack Castor? The information and the SWAT team attacking the mansion, the mayhem and the action, the effects? Sean and the confrontation with Castor? His going home, talking to Eve, her fears, the blood information, Eve and Castor in bed, her taking the blood, going to the hospital and testing the blood? Sean and his disappearing as Castor came with the authorities to the hospital?

15.The funeral, Jamie not being at the funeral? Castor being there as Sean and officially mourning? Eve and her presence? Sean and his hiding at the back of the church? The Latinate ceremony and the hymns? The religious milieu, the focus on the crucifix? The altar and the candles? The build-up to the confrontation between the two in the church? Castor and his talking about eternal myths and the confrontation between good and evil? His mocking the crucifix in his body language (and the irony of his own death, crucified and pierced)? The taking of Eve as hostage, Sascha and her not being sure of what was happening, the shootout, her death and asking Sean to look after Adam? The background to Castor giving Jamie the knife for her self-defence, her stabbing him with the knife and disabling him? Her shooting her father?

16.The anticlimax of the church finale and then the harbour chase, the explosions, the police, the boats, special effects, the pacing and energy of the chase, the final confrontation, the harpoon and Castor's death?

17.The final surgery, the explanation of the team coming from Washington, Eve at home, Jamie back to normal, Sean coming home as himself? The reunion and apologies? Adam and the family's acceptance? The theme's coming full cycle in terms of the child, death and life, good and evil, family split and family reunion?

18.The plausibility of the plot? Plot and style over the top? John Woo's delineation of characters - with Nicholas Cage and John Travolta in themselves, with the face-off change and their imitating each other's style and mannerisms? Audiences believing that each was in the other and that building up to dramatic and psychological confrontation? The strength of Joan Allen's performance as Eve giving credibility to the film? 1990s action entertainment?

LITTLE ASHES


UK, 2008, 112 minutes, Colour.
Javier Beltran, Robert Pattinson, Matthew Mc Nulty.
Directed by Paul Morrison.

Here is a film about the early adult years of poet and playwright, Federico Garcia Lorca, and the eccentric artist, Salvador Dali. Film director Luis Bunuel also appears in many of the sequences, their friend, falling out with them, and a reconciliation with Lorca before Lorca’s death.

The film was directed by Paul Morrison, a psychiatrist, who went into documentary film-making and made some feature films including Solomon and Gaynor, in Welsh, a nominee for best foreign language film for the Oscars. It was a Romeo and Juliet-style love story set in a Welsh village. He then directed a warm-hearted film about anti-Semitism in London in the 1960s as well as the plight of migrants from Jamaica. It was also about cricket, Wondrous Oblivion, with Delroy Lindo.

This film is very different. It was lushly photographed in Spanish settings. The dialogue is in English although some of Lorca’s poems are spoken in Spanish with an English voice-over.

The film recreates the atmosphere in Madrid in the early 1920s, the young intellectuals, their sense of revolution against church, government, military dominance. This was to bring Lorca into great difficulty with the government during the 1930s, his socialist sympathies, his being arrested and executed during the Spanish civil war.

The film recreates the artistic atmosphere as well as going out into the beautiful Spanish countryside of the north as well as Andalusia where Garcia Lorca came from.

Javier Beltran, who had appeared only in a Spanish television series, is quite persuasive as Garcia Lorca. He is pensive, creative. However, gradually he becomes aware of his sexual orientation and his love for Salvador Dali which was rejected. (Dali in his later years admitted to some kind of relationship with Garcia Lorca, an ambiguous confession, which forms the basis for the screenplay of this film.) Luis Bunuel was well known as condemning homosexuality and his critique of Garcia Lorca.

Robert Pattinson (from the Harry Potter films and Twilight) portrays Dali in a most interesting way, his complete self-absorption, his eccentricities, his vanity as well as his creativity. While the film focuses on his ambiguous relationship with Garcia Lorca, it shows the influence of Bunuel in taking him to Paris (where they collaborated on Bunuel’s famous short film, Un Chien Andalou), his marriage to the Russian Gala and the intimations of his subsequent career.

Bunuel, however, while in the film is more on the periphery than the playwright and the artist.

The film moves into the 1930s with the rumblings for civil war, the consequences for Garcia Lorca, his taking his plays to the people and their public performances and the popular support for his work. It is a tragedy that he was abducted so quickly and at the beginning of the civil war and his immediate influence ended. However, his reputation lives on. Dali and Bunuel, because they lived longer and created a greater body of work, are much better known than Garcia Lorca.

1.Audience knowledge of Garcia Lorca, Dali, Bunuel? The atmosphere of Spain in the 1920s and 30s?

2.The reputation of Garcia Lorca in his time, his plays, his poetry? The influence of his popular productions? Social comment? Later reputation? Dali, the beginnings of his art, his eccentricities and vanity? Bunuel and his beginnings in cinema, Un Chien Andalou?

3.Spain and the introductory comments about the church, government and the army? The rise of fascism? Censorship? Uprisings leading to the civil war? The history of Spain in the early 20th century?

4.The settings, Madrid and the city, the students’ world and the artists’? The countryside of the north and its beauty? Andalusia? The countryside? Poetic photography of its beauty?

5.The inserts of Paris, the Moulin Rouge, the collage of Dali’s activity in Paris?

6.The world of cinema, using newsreel clips of the period, film clips? Clips of Paris in the 30s? The clips from the civil war? The clips from Un Chien Andalou? Showing Dali’s style?

7.The portrait of Garcia Lorca, a sympathetic person, his personality, as a writer, imaginative, his social life, his personal life, the discovery of his sexual orientation? His change with the rejection by Dali? His work from the 20s into the 30s? His social commitment?

8.The portrait of Dali: young, eccentric, vain, self-centred, the nature of his art, his relationship with his friends, his friendship with Federico, the bond between them, sharing, love, Dali saying he was unable to respond, Bunuel and his friendship, his condemnation of Lorca, his taking Dali to Paris, Dali’s success? His affectations, manner, accent, speaking French? His marriage to Gala? The return to Spain, his dismissal of Spain at art? His work, wanting to be apolitical? The meeting with Federico, his rejection of him, the impact of Federico’s death?

9.The sketch of Bunuel: the 1920s, his friends, sceptical attitudes, critique, his friendship with Garcia Lorca, taking Dali to Paris? His influence, the film? His going back to Spain, signing the document in support of Garcia Lorca? Bunuel’s future? Away from Spain? Finally returning in the 60s and 70s?

10.The group, their age, young, enthusiastic, revolutionary, the attitude towards the status quo in Spain, creative in the arts, the artistic movements of the time, surrealism, Dadaism? The influence on Dali? Their growing up, getting jobs, relationships, opportunities, their stances in Spain, politically? Beyond Spain?

11.Federico and Andalusia, his poetry, his dramas, his belief in God, the family and his visits? Dali and the holiday in Andalusia, sharing, joy? The lyrical scene of the swimming and their affection for each other? Garcia Lorca with Dali in the north? Federico’s reserve, sexuality, Bunuel and his talk, going to the haunt of the homosexual men, the encounter, his brutal kicking of the gay man? His friendship with Magdalena, her love for him? Her coming to the room, drunk, the sexual encounter, Dali watching and his behaviour? Federico hurt? Dali’s vanity, leaving and the effect on Federico? Writing him letters, the passing of eight years? Federico’s activity and politics, his speech about freedom, Bunuel signing the document? Dali returning, Federico meeting Gala, their talking, Dali’s vanity, his proposing to work with Lorca? Lorca’s final comment about Dali as a genius? Federico’s sense of duty, family?

12.The return home, playing the piano, his family, the brutal abduction, Federico in prison, being taken out, blindfolded, the young execution squad, the shooting of the hostages, Lorca’s death, not immediately dying, the contempt in the man saying ‘Queer’?

13.Dali’s character, his later appearance (and the growing of the moustache and cultivating it), his façade, the nature of his art?

14.Magdalena, the women in the group, her love for Federico, her frustration, getting a job with the paper, her drinking, the sexual advance, her later reaction, supporting him in the 1930s?

15.The civil war, the images and their meaning?

16.The group listening to the radio, the news of Federico’s death, Dali and his painting in black, grief?

17.The poetic aspects of the film, the whispers with the views of the crops? The beginning of the end? Garcia Lorca’s comment about contributing little ashes?

18.A film of portraits, backgrounds, insight?

ELMER GANTRY

US, 1960, 145 minutes, Colour.
Burt Lancaster, Jean Simmons, Arthur Kennedy, Shirley Jones, Dean Jagger.
Directed by Richard Brooks.

Elmer Gantry was one of the best American films of 1960. It received a number of Oscar nominations and won the award for Burt Lancaster in the central role and for Shirley Jones as best supporting actress. Elmer Gantry was written and directed by Richard Brooks who had adapted many novels and plays in his career eg. The Brothers Karamazov, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Lord Jim and In Cold Blood to name but a few.

The film was based on Sinclair Lewis's famous novel, and its exploration of a particularly American phenomenon of a revivalist religion. The point of view taken by Lewis was antagonistic towards this kind of religion, although he conceded that some of the people involved in it were sincere as in the character of Sister Sharon, played by Jean Simmons. The film re-created the atmosphere of the 30s, the people yearning for this kind of religion, the hysteria that came over people in the praying and healing ceremonies, and the way that people could be caught up. However, it showed the world of religion as bait for charlatans whether deliberate or undeliberate. Burt Lancaster invests a lot of energy in the portrayal of Elmer Gantry who becomes a symbol of the sincerity and hypocrisy of this kind of religious involvement. The film is quite powerful in its way as a study of America and of human relationships.

1. The overall impact of this film? Its way of retaining audience interest? How enjoyable? As an insight into America?

2. The length of the film, its colour, sets, stars? How well did they combine for effective drama?

3. The importance of the prologue and the warning about Revivalism? Did this make the audience pre-judge the film? How much did response to the film depend on attitudes towards Revivalism before the start?

4. How much sympathy for people involved in Revivalism was there? Or was it merely a strong expose of these people and their methods? Was the film just in its presentation of this aspect of American religion?

5. How well did the film focus on Gantry? Burt Lancaster's style for this character? The initial presentation of the American salesman, the 30s, his story, 'hail.fellow, well met', his drinking, the night with Lulu? How did we see things through Gantry's eyes? How important was this?

6. How did the film evoke interest in Sister Sharon? As seen by Gantry? His attraction towards her, his pursuit of her on the train etc.? His confidence tricks in using Morgan and Lefferts on the train? His use of Sister Rachel? How did he impress Sharon? The nature of his patter, of his acting religiously, the effect of his success in Revivalism, the growing conviction that he was right, his belief in his own powers, his hallucinating himself? The reason for his personal involvement in Revivalism, the effect on himself, and others?

7. The background of money and Revivalism: the Babbitts and their manoeuvrings, the hypocritical American businessman, the spectacle and the attraction of people by the bizarre, the police supervision and regulations on Revivalism? The effect of this kind of background on the impact on the people?

8. The contrast with Sister Sharon and her ways of prayer and communication? The simplicity of the milk-maid, her sincerity, a complex character? Her fascination with Gantry and her growing love for him? Her common-sensed attitudes and the compatibility of her love with her profession? The film's visualising of her performance, of her prayer, of the impact on people's lives?

9. The film's presentation of Sister Sharon's entourage? The sincerity of William Morgan and his being caught up in Gantry's enthusiasm? Sister Rachel, her conversion, friendship with Sharon, love for Gantry, helping him, her contribution to the religious Revival?

10. The religious convictions of Babbitt and the ministers? The fact that Babbitt could be terrified by public opinion? His hypocrisy in drinking and gambling and public religion?

11. The importance of Jim Lefferts? The sceptic and the audience seeing things through his eyes? The importance of his travelling with the group? His quizzical and amused regard for Gantry? Was he right in writing his articles? Their impact? The reaction of Gantry? The reaction of Sister Sharon? The business people and the ministers?

12. The importance of the sequences of verbal clashes between Lefferts and Gantry? The drama of Gantry condemning Lefferts by his own words, especially about the Gospels and God? How enjoyable was this? What points were being made? Lefferts' withdrawal?

13. The character of Lulu and her integration into the film? The initial presentation, the relationship with Gantry, the prostitutes and receiving the vengeance of the enthused Revivalists? (The impact of this kind of vigilante approach as regards brothels etc.?) Her humiliation, her relationship with Gantry and his getting her off? Her humiliating him, deceiving him with the photos? The fact that he was deceived? Her enjoyment of his humiliation, her change of heart? How credible was this? Lulu as bringing a better side out of Gantry?

14. The impact of the scandal on Sharon? Her disappointment in Gantry but her fidelity? The buying of the negatives from Lulu? The importance of this confrontation of the two women for the themes of the film? The climax sequence and Sharon going out, the contrast with the few when the scandal was raging? The importance of the miracle? How convincing, how convinced was she?

15. The film's commentary on the public and their fickleness? Their love of spectacle?

16. The importance of the climax of the fire? Its destruction of a way of life and religion? The fact that Sharon died?

17. Gantry at the end? His saving people? A certain nobility? His future?

18. The social themes in the film, American society, capitalism, the Press, organised religion etc.?

19. The film as a study of relationships?

20. Could the film be described as religious? its insights into true and false religions? The value of religion in society?

E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL

US, 1982, 109 minutes, Colour.
Dee Wallace, Peter Coyote, Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Robert Mc Naughton.
Directed by Steven Spielberg

ET was one of the surprise movies of the 1980s - and one of the most popular and financially successful movies of all time.

Steven Spielberg had made Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977, showing an interest in space and extraterrestrials - an optimistic perspective on other worlds beyond this one. Spielberg also professed his delight in children and wanted to make a movie for them.

He chose the Peter Pan story, again a story that delighted him. He commissioned Melissa Matheson (An Indian in the Cupboard, Kundun) to adapt the story to outer space. Matheson, interviewed later, said it was when she went to the studio to watch production that she realised the Gospel resemblances.

Spielberg was to move from this Peter Pan phase with his spectacle about mid-life crisis: Hook, where Robin Williams' Peter had forgotten his childhood and had to find it again. It was after this that Spielberg was able to make Schindler's List.

Henry Thomas is Eliot (ElioT) and a little Drew Barrymore is his sister, Gertie. The voice of ET was supplied by Debra Winger and technically modified for his now-familiar rasp.

1. The delight of the film, its universal popularity? A long-lasting fantasy?

2. The work of Stephen Spielberg? His vision, technological interest, fantasy, love for the childlike? His career and its success? E.T. within the themes of all his films, especially Close Encounters? The child in Spielberg making films for children everywhere? Achievement - technological, delight?

3. The California suburbs, the universal suburb? Location photography: the twinkling lights of Los Angeles from the forest, the spacecraft, the streets, home, the medical and anti-radioactive swathings and uniforms? The use of the small screen? The special effects for the spacecraft, the levitation, the poltergeist effects, the children riding in the sky? The creation of E.T. himself - appearance, movement, voice? The humorous effects? The special effects absorbed by the plot and its feeling?

4. The contribution of John Williams' score? Themes, atmosphere?

5. Audience response to aliens, outer space, close encounters? An encounter which is not frightening? Which is first recognised by children and then by adults? Gentleness and humanity? Personal communication? Shared values? Learning, communicating, love and the bonds of love? illness and dying shared? The presence of the alien changing Earth for the better?

6. The popular ingredients for the story of the American family: the style of the American family, mother and her work and worry, the kids and their friends,, playing. talk, crude touches etc.? Boys and girls? Home, affluence, school and education, the absent father and his being off in Mexico with a girlfriend and the effect on each member of the family? The fairy story transforming the family? The basic plausibility for the plot? The development of each of the characters? The development of fear, the bonds with E.T., love, fun, the growing menace, the climax, death and resurrection?

7. The age-old ingredients of the plot? Of extra-terrestrials visiting Earth? Their knowledge, values, parallels with human beings? Knowing more than humans but needing to learn? The appeal to children rather than adults? Adults (as Mary) not understanding or (as the police and scientists) hunting? The alien identifying with the child and his experience? Sharing it, transforming it? The alien's search for home? The homecoming and departure? The fear, agony, death, rising, the quest, ascension after transforming and bringing love? The suggested patterns of the New Testament? Allusions to Mary as mother, being like little children, coming from another world, in constant communication with it, the ability to heal, to know what was inside human beings. hunted, dying, rising etc.? The suitability of considering E.T. as 'a Christ-figure'?

8. The nature of the Earth mission at the beginning, its being nonthreatening, the stars and the galaxies? E.T. being left behind? Wanting to phone home and return? The benign mission to rescue E.T.?

9. E.T's curiosity about the lights of Los Angeles, his delight, his anxiety as the cars and the searchlights turned on him, his hiding? His being caught and his fear - from the hunters, in the shed, with Elliott? Trying to decide what to do. Hiding, taking the sweets and meeting Elliott? Hunger? The fearful encounter - the ball thrown back, the sweets and E.T. coming into the house? The bond immediately between Elliott and E.T. (noting the E and the T in their names)? The importance of Elliott being fatherless and his immediately relating to E.T. (and E.T's father-figure role as well as companion)? E.T. being the child in Elliott?

10. The atmosphere of the family: the boys playing cards, ordering pizza, going to school, mother getting the kids ready, taking them in the car, the school scenes of Elliott (and his being drunk in sympathy with E.T.), the frog-dissection and the humour with the girls scared of the frogs, the liberating of the frogs? Elliott's friends and their slinging off? Michael as the older brother and the relationship with Elliott? His being introduced to E.T. and his shock, coping? Gertie and her directness? Her screaming at E.T. but befriending him and actually helping him to speak? The tensions in the family - Mary's upset about her separated husband, tact and tactlessness at the table etc.? The absence of the father and its repercussions for the children? The response to E.T.?

11. The film's focus on Elliott? Henry Thomas's sympathetic performance? Befriending E.T. after searching for him, hiding him? The devices of his sickness and temperature to deceive his mother? The facial imitations and gestures? The empathy between the two? His leaving E.T. at home - with his discovery of television, eating, drinking and being drunk? The initial animosity of the dog and then the friendliness with E.T.? The programmes on television - cartoons, the sequence from John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara and The Quiet Man (and the parallel with Elliott's treatment of the girl at school as E.T. watched the television)? Spielberg's love for television - its influence in the home, effect on people and their behaviour? The attachment between E.T. and Elliott? The quality of the bond? The discussion about where E.T. came from, the imps and the globe? Searching for the material to Hake the phone? E.T's looking at the Buck Rogers comic and deciding to make the phone call home? Keeping E.T. hidden from Mary?

12. The Halloween episode and the kids getting dressed up, Mary dressed up and photos? E.T. walking down the street - and the jokes of the disguises e.g. from The Empire Strikes Back and Yoda? The going out into the forest. the setting up of the phone and E.T. calling home? The background of the friends and their disbelief about E.T.?

13. Mary and her running the house, her sadness. her being deceived. getting Elliott from school when he was drunk and freeing the frogs, Halloween, getting the police in, Elliott's return home, her not believing about E.T.? The humour of E.T's being in the room learning from Gertie as Mary put goods in the refrigerator? Her change of attitude on discovering E.T.? The fears of losing Elliott in illness? At the end and his possibly going with E.T. to the planet?

14. The friends changing attitude, being outside the house. their bikes and the effectiveness of the bike chase, their skill in eluding the police. the police and their guns, boys and the simplicity of the bikes, their being taken into the sky as previously Elliott had? The symbol of the bikes silhouetted against the sun and the moon?

15. The film's emphasis on the detection and surveillance? The impersonal nature of the hunters? Their suits, masks, fear of radioactivity? Car searchlights? The torches? Their continued pursuit and the way this was edited in? The surveillance of the home? Listening to Michael and Elliott search for the parts for the phone? Their entering into the home? Their setting up the house and cocooning it - for a new birth? Their change in sympathy when audience saw their faces? The contrast with the focus of the midriff of the pursuers and the rattling of the keys? The humanity of the medical team? Their attempts to heal E.T.? The noise and the scientific fuss? The sympathetic pursuer - and his having the same dream as Elliott? The irony of his dream not being fulfilled whereas Elliott's was? His understanding at the end?

16. E.T's illness and audience sympathy? His being found in the drain? The change in the technological atmosphere? Elliott ill and pleading? The bond between the two and E.T. giving his life for Elliott to live? His death? Elliott's mourning him after he was buried in the coffin? Elliott's declaration of love and E.T's glow? The communication from home (the touch of his father from the heavens?)

17. The plan for E.T's escape, Michael (previously driving the car and now the ambulance van)? The elaborate chase? The men trying to get out of the tunnel? The bike-ride? The spacecraft? The presence of the boys, the family, the scientist? E.T's bequest to Gertie to be good, his promise to be always in the mind and heart of Elliott? Resurrection and ascension images? The sadness of Elliott? Yet his being able to let E.T. go home?

18. The sadness and happiness of the ending? The delight? The transforming of the family? Fairy-tale and fantasy? The age-old themes of fairy-tales in modern dress?

DOUBLE INDEMNITY

US, 1944, 107 minutes, Black and white.
Fred Mac Murray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Tom Powers, Porter Hall, Jean Heather, Byron Barr, Richard Gaines.
Directed by Billy Wilder.

Double Indemnity is one of the Hollywood black thrillers. It received many Oscar nominations in 1944. It was co-written and directed by Billy Wilder, a refugee from Nazi Germany who spent the '30s writing many scripts in Hollywood. His collaborator was frequently Charles Brackett. His first directorial role with the comedy The Major and the Minor. He then made the war film Five Graves To Cairo. The present film was followed by The Lost Weekend, for which he won his first Oscar. His second Oscar was for The Apartment in 1960. Billy Wilder has a rather bleak and sardonic outlook on life - he focuses on the offbeat and sometimes the bizarre. Several of his successful films are: Sunset Boulevard, Ace In The Hole, Stalag 17.

Fred Mac Murray was popular lead in light comedies and romantic dramas in the '30s and '40s. He was cast against his popular image to great effect in this film. Barbara Stanwyck had had a versatile career up till 1944 in all kinds of films. Here she effectively incarnates the evil woman. Edward G. Robinson, who had played many gangster roles, plays the insurance investigator. The film is very effective in involving the audience with the characters, in the perfect crime, in the falling out and the vengeance.

The story is based on factual incidents written up by James M. Cain, author of The Postman Always Rings Twice. Novelist Raymond Chandler collaborated with the screenplay. Originally the film was longer. There were cuts of up to 20 minutes of sequences with Fred Mac Murray going to the gas chamber.

Double Indemnity is a very fine example of the best in Hollywood film-making. There was a television remake with Samantha Eggar and Richard Crenna and Lee J. Cobb, directed by Jack Smight.

1. The classic status of this film? Its particularly American tone and style? The crime drama, detection? The collaboration of Raymond Chandler and Billy Wilder on a James M. Cain story?

2. Black and white photography? The Miklos Rosza score and its atmosphere? The editing for pace and suspense?

3. The standards of the Hays Office at the tine? The presentation of a crime, the leads as initially sympathetic? The demand of the Office that crime not pay? The casting of the stark., audience expectations of them at the time, their playing against these expectations? To what effect?

4. The audience involvement in the screenplay: the initial sequence with Walter Neff speaking to the tape recorder, the flashback and the description of the crime, the ironies? The importance of Neff's talking to the tape and therefore the voice-over technique throughout the film? The voice-over addressed to Keys? The development of the plot and the value
judgments being made throughout? The ironies being highlighted - and yet the final solution not known? The Raymond Chandler style of story and narrative?

5. The significance of the title, the focus on insurance, money and greed? The credits?

6. The portrayal of a crime in detail, the evil of the crime, the motives, the possibility of choice especially for Walter? Phyllis and cold evil? The seduction of Walter? Walter and his weakness, fears, passion and greed? The husband as victim - not sympathetic, wealthy?

7. Fred Mac Murray's character portrayal of Walter: the introduction, the speaking to the tape, the tone with which he addressed Keys? The first person narrative and voice-over? His effectiveness as an insurance man? Weakness, greed - an ordinary worker? The visit to Phyllis, the attraction and his description of her? The subsequent visits and allowing himself to be led on? The tentative discussions about policies, the possibility of murder? Walter's attitude towards Dietrichson? Lola? The deeper involvement, the discussion about policies and his knowledge, the artifice for getting the signatures? The plan and the tensions? The car and the timing, the train trip, Walter's disguise? The pushing of Diedrichson and carrying him through the plan? The effect after the crime? Phyllis and her coolness? Lola and her anxiety? Nino and the truth? The build-up to the confrontation with Phyllis, her intent to kill him, his killing her? The portrait of an ordinary weak man, his death and the possibility of assessing his life?

8. Barbara Stanwyck's style as Phyllis? Blonde, cool? The explanations of her past and marriage to Diedrichson, Lola’s suspicion? Lola’s antagonism? Her smooth talking, her wiles, seduction? Passionate involvement? Her work with Walter for getting the signature, taking out the policies? Making the plans? Her lies? The effect of the death? Nino? The final confrontation with Walter and her death? A personification of evil with no redeeming features?

9. Diedrichson: the wealthy type, his manner, business background, brusqueness, signing his death warrant, the murder? The lack of audience sympathy - and therefore not so much blame for Phyllis and Walter?

10. Lola and her love for her father, her genuine concern, suspicions of Phyllis? The humane aspect of the family?

11. The attention to detail, signatures, time, the train and the dropping of the body, the irony of Walter being seen? The suspense with the car and the ignition not starting etc.? How well did the film blend character study and suspense?

12. Edward G. Robinson's portrait of Keys: his efficient work, friendship with Walter, his comments on his behaviour, his theories about the murder, the seeking of evidence? The interviews with the witness? (The comic touches with the witness and his being brought south, the possibility of identifying Walter?), his following Walter, the final confrontation?

13. The fascination and appeal of looking at the perfect crime? A portrayal of evil, weakness? Victim? The perfect crime and the falling out of criminals - mutual betrayal? Why is the film a classic of its kind?

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE

UK, 1971, 136 minutes, Colour.
Malcolm Mc Dowell, Michael Bates, Adrienne Corri, Patrick Magee, Warren Clarke.
Directed by Stanley Kubrick.

A Clockwork Orange is Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Anthony Burgess's novella. Kubrick wrote the screenplay and directed as well as supervised in meticulous detail the production (as always with his films).

By this stage of his career Kubrick had made, amongst other films, Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Dr Strangelove, Lolita and 2001: A Space Odyssey. In the next 15 years he was to make Barry Linden, the Shining, Full Metal Jacket. It was another twelve years until his final film, Eyes Wide Shut.

The film was controversial in its time. It came at the end of the '60s with the revolution in permissiveness, freedom, questioning. It also came at a time of religious questioning, the `God is dead' controversy, questions about society and ethics.

The film also was controversial in its presentation of visual violence and sexuality. It was released in the same year as Peckinpah's Straw Dogs (after his The Wild Bunch). Many considered Kubrick's presentation too violent. Others said it was stylised and ballet-like, so audiences were distanced. There was controversy about the emotional impact of the character of Alex, his antisocial behaviour, his being conditioned by aversion therapy and the Ludovico techniques and the whole question of freedom, responsibility, choice. (It is interesting that the chaplain of the prison has the lines highlighting the moral issues and dilemmas.)

The film is a masterpiece of visual style, editing, soundtrack. Kubrick uses a great range of music to great effect, especially Beethoven by Rossini, Purcell, Elgar, as well as Arthur Freed's `Singin' in the Rain' sung by Gene Kelly.

Malcolm Mc Dowell gives a striking performance as Alex. He also appeared in Lindsay Anderson's If, O Lucky Man and Britannia Hospital as well as in Royal Flash. There is an excellent supporting cast of character actors who bring a variety of personality types alive.

A Clockwork Orange is an excellent adaptation of a novel, a master film work by Stanley Kubrick, a significant film from the '60s and '70s. It has a classic status.

1.The quality of the film, its reputation? In the '70s? Classic status? A picture of society, violence, permissiveness, freedom, law and order?

2.The work of Anthony burgess, his insights into society, prophecy?

3.The work of Stanley Kubrick, writing the screenplay, direction and production? Kubrick as a perfectionist? Exploring intellectual themes visually? Through story? The film as a `psychological myth'?

4.An overview of themes: contemporary society, permissiveness, collapse of civilisation, hopes for Utopia, instinct and freedom, violence, individuals and gangs, cruelty, sexual abuse, crime and viciousness, prison and rehabilitation, authority, politics and politicking, manipulation, revenge, freedom and choice, redemption?

5.The style of the film: colour and the vivid use of colour compositions? Stylised costumed: the Droogs, Alex's family, echoes of the 18th and 19th centuries, the period flashbacks? The decor of the bar, the apartment, the apartment block, the city, homes, prison, hospitals? The ordinariness of London? The film seen as a 20th century variation on the Masque, the use of tableaux vivants? The range of artwork: paintings, sculptures? In the bar, the use of modernistic statues of women? Sex objects and pictures? In Alex's room? The cat woman's artwork? The bust of Beethoven and the pictures of Beethoven?

6.The soundtrack, the range of music: the use of Beethoven, Rossini's `Thieving Magpie' and `William Tell', Purcell and the funeral music for Queen Mary? Elgar and `Pomp and Circumstance'? `Singin' in the Rain', `I Want to be a Lighthouse Keeper'? The music as background, part of Alex's therapy? The use of background music and themes? The importance of dance and the ballet style of much of the action?

7.Camera techniques and photography: long takes, close‑ups? Fast speeds, slow motion, Lens distortions? Editing and pace? Stunt work and violence?

8.How explicit was the film in its presentation of violence, sexual encounters, sexual exploitation, language?

9.Anthony Burgess's characteristic language? Relationship with Russia, overtones of 1984? The effect on the audience, the tone?

10.Malcolm Mc Dowell as Alex? The quality of his embodying Alex? The opening, the face, eyeball confrontation with the audience, unblinking defiance? The made-up eye? Alex's sinister look, the smile? How monstrous was Alex, how human? His appearance, age, use of characteristic language? The fact of the voice-over? His confidentiality, genial tone, reference to brothers, inviting the audience to share his experience? The tableau in the bar, the Droogs? His power over them? His love of the old ultra violence? How vicious? Already a clockwork orange shaped by a clockwork society? His intelligence, strengths and weaknesses? The contrast with the television people in the bar (and his delight in the diva singing the Ninth Symphony)? Moving out, the encounter with the old man, contrast between the aged and the young, his condemning him because of his filthiness, begging? The brutality of the bashing? Billyboy and the old casino, the confrontation, the attempted rape, the violence of the fight, brutality, smashing windows etc? Stunt work? Travelling in the car against the backdrop? The arrival at Home - the plea about the accident, his whining and persuasiveness? The intrusion, the cruelty, the brutality towards the writer, the brutality towards his wife, cutting her jumpsuit, the rape? His song and dance routine with `Singin' in the Rain' and his kicking his victims? The brutality with the cat woman, using the same works(words?) to get in? Spurning her sexual art? The violence of the fight and his using the phallus to kill her? The contrast with his going home, the young man and his accountability to his parents? Their lack of concern but their love for him? Going into his room, the decor, the snake and his love for it? Listening to Beethoven, the sexual arousal and excitement, the images to Beethoven, the low shot of the woman hanging, the collage of the four statues of Jesus and their dancing, the limbs and the blood? His going to the ship in the period dress? The encounter with the girls, their lollipops? Rossini and the sexual orgy - and the effect of watching it in fast motion? His staying in bed, pretending he was sick? Wandering the house in his underpants, the meeting with Mr Deltoid and the story? Deltoid's reprimands, the sexual advance and his response? The Droogs waiting outside, their rebellion against him, the voice-over and his attitudes towards them? The ballet-style walk along the riverbank, his using his staff and pushing them in the water, slashing Dim's hand with a knife? Back to the bar and his control over the Droogs? His being betrayed by them and their smashing him with the milk bottle?

11.His going to prison, the voice-over and his commentary? The interrogation, mocking the interrogators, his manhandling the interrogator? Mr Deltoid and the news that he was a murderer? The bashing and the blood? His going to the prison, the officer and the ultra-strict interrogation, his having to stand behind the white line? His valuables going into a bag, the mothballs? The stripping, the interrogation, the search?

12.The passing of two years and Alex appearing as ordinary, in the chapel ceremony, the hellfire and brimstone style of the sermon, the prisoner mouthing kisses at him, the belching and the breaking wind, the officer and his wanting strict observance? Alex finding his place in the prison? Reading the scripture, quoting it, his images and his angelic look - and the irony of his flogging Jesus on the way to the cross, slitting the throats of the enemy, Old Testament sexuality? The interview with the chaplain and his sincerity? Knowing about the Ludovico techniques, the parade, his intervention to the minister, his being chosen?

13.The transition from prison to hospital? The signature and the disapproval from the head of the prison? Going with the officer, his little dance when coming to attention? Meeting the doctor and her talk with him, his voice-over about what would happen, his hopes for freedom? Wanting to watch the films? Audience response to the hooks on his eyes? The injection? His eyes being moistened? The bashings, the pictures from Hitler and the triumph of the spirit? The irony of Beethoven music as background? Becoming sick, the aversion therapy and its mechanisms? His plea, the desecration of Beethoven as a sin? His smooth style, pretences? The doctor and the hopes? The minister and his hopes? The performance, the lighting and the staging, the audience, the prison official and his wariness, the minister and his associates confident of success? The performance with the man taunting Alex, hitting him, the violence, subduing him, making him lick his shoe? Alex's comment? The woman as sex object, the visuals of Alex reaching out? The humour of both actor and actress bowing to the audience and their applause?

14.Alex being released, as ordinary, going home, the passive reception by his mother and father, his trying to persuade them to take him in, the unexplained guest? Joe and his place in the household? Alex weeping and Joe rebuking him? Being ousted? Not even getting his room back, the death of his snake? Contemplating throwing himself off the bridge, the old man begging, the old man recognising him, taking him to the vagrants under the bridge, their revenge bashing? Being rescued by the police - and the irony that they were Dim and George? Their anger and revenge? Their holding him under the water, almost drowning him? His desperation, the irony of the coincidence of his arriving at Home? Being let in, the write and his reaction, his strongman(?)(and?) helping him, thinking him a victim of the government? Alex in the bath, getting more confident, singing `Singin' in the Rain'? The effect on the author? The spaghetti and meatballs, the offering of the wine and his fearing that it was poisoned? The visitors and the interview? His collapse? Upstairs, locked in, the music of Beethoven coming through the floor, his desperation and suicide attempt?

15.The hospital, in plaster, Dr Taylor and her nice sweet manner, talking about his dreams, the cartoons and his having to fill in the alternate captions? His reversion to violence and sexuality? His parents visiting him and their reaction? The minister's arrival, the photo opportunities, the apology and the explanation, the understanding the deal? The writer in the asylum? Alex's performance - wanting to be fed by the minister and demanding it? His final imagination with the elegantly dressed people watching the nude romp? His comment that he was cured? His future?

16.Alex as a character and as a caricature? Relationship with thugs of the street? Present - future? Unsympathetic, a monster and vicious? Yet the confidentiality of the voice-over? His love for Beethoven - justifying him or showing that criminals can love great music? In prison, victim of the government and the Ludovico technique? Sympathy for him? After regaining his freedom? His future?

17.The picture of the Droogs, the gangs, blind loyalty, the brutality, participation in the crimes? The lack of imagination? their rebellion against him? The fight at the riverbank, pushed into the water, Dim and his hand being cut? Their being subdued? their leaving him after the attack with the broken bottle? Their going to the police, politicians using them?

18.The sketch of the parents, ineffectual? At home, their passive manner? At work, the factory, accountability of their son? their reaction to his violence, to Mr Deltoid? The dress and the colours? The decor of the house? Knick-knacks? His visit home, their having Joe in the house, their parental relationship with him, the mother weeping, the father trying to be friendly but stammering? The visit to the hospital? Joe, taking over, his attack on Alex?

19.Mr Deltoid, manner, dress, sexual inclinations? His way of speaking and mannerisms? His place in society, understanding brutality, his reaction to Alex, the lecture, trying to grab him, drinking the water with the teeth? His glee in visiting him in prison and telling him he was a murderer?

20.The character(caricature?) of the prison officer, tough, the letter of the law, robotic? The drill? The interrogation? His disapproval of Alex? Supervision in the chapel? The Ludovico technique and his not wanting Alex to go? The interview with the head of the prison? His watching the performance, the licking of the boot, smiling at the woman and applauding?

21.The chaplain, the traditional role of the chaplain, a seeming figure of fun, his hellfire and brimstone sermon? The discussion about the Ludovico technique, his hesitations? His discussions about freedom and choice? The role of God, grace and freedom? Redemption? His presence at the performance? His objections? The pragmatism of the minister: "It works"?

22.The government, the minister, law and order platform, the minister and his suave assistants and advisers, the tour, looking at Alex's cell? The decision to take on Alex - smiling as he recounted his brutality? The performance and his reaction? The speech against the chaplain? The change in public opinion, the newspaper headlines? His coming to the hospital, the reconciliation with Alex, the deal and the understanding, the use of Christian names, Alex making him feed him? The photo opportunities?

23.The role of the media? Records and music? The newspapers and their headlines? The use of cinema and its powerful images as part of the technique?

24.The writer and his home, liberal minded, compelled to let Alex in? His wife, their relationship? The brutality they experienced? The revenge, the conspirators, the writer confined to the wheelchair, the strongman as an extension of himself carrying him around? The reaction to the recognition, his fit (and looking like the bust of Beethoven)? The playing of the music, enjoying the torture? His being put into the asylum? The conspirators and their normal reactions, the interview with Alex, sharing with the writer?

25.The cat woman, her health farm, exercise? Her artwork and its sexuality?? The cats? The comment on society? Her suspicions of Alex, his coming in, the arguments, his swearing, the fight and her death?

26.The staff and their expertise in the Ludovico treatment? The doctor and his hopes? The doctor and her working with Alex, explanations, theories, injections? The nature of aversion therapy - and its role in society? Its presumptions about instincts and responsibility, choice? The contrast with Dr Taylor?

27.Ethical issues, theological issues? Redemption? Human beings as risen apes or fallen angels?

 

 

 

BRIDESHEAD REVISITED

UK, 2008, 133 minutes, Colour.
Matthew Goode, Ben Whishaw, Hayley Atwell, Emma Thompson, Michael Gambon, Greta Scacchi, Patrick Malahide, Ed Stoppard, Jonathan Cake, Niall Buggy.
Directed by Julian Jarrold.

Evelyn Waugh's celebrated 1945 novel was something of a departure from his more satirical books like Decline and Fall, Vile Bodies,Scoop. It was a serious observation of a traditional and wealthy English Catholic family of the 1920s and 1930s, the nature of their allegiance to the Church, particular aspects of their faith and its being part of their aristocratic culture. The observations are made by Charles Ryder who comes from a middle class family, who declares himself an atheist, who is both fascinated and repelled by this kind of religious faith and behaviour just as Waugh himself satirised but seemed to be drawn to the Brideshead way of life and its snobbery. The novel was sub-titled 'The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder'.

Waugh himself was a convert to Catholicism in 1930.

Response to this 2008 film version, which did not perform well at the US box office and is about to open in the UK , Australia and other English-speaking countries in October, will depend very much on the audience's age. There will be those who have read the book and have their ideas on how literary adaptations should be filmed. There will be those who saw the 1981, 12 episode television series, which still has the reputation of a television masterpiece (written by John Mortimer and starring Jeremy Irons, Anthony Andrews, Diana Quick with celebrity cameos by Olivier, Giulgud and Claire Bloom). A film running just over two hours cannot hope to compete in storytelling with this series.

For a younger audience unfamiliar with novel or series, this may seem just another 'English heritage' film along with those from the Merchant- Ivory company. Not having lived through the period, they may well find the portrait of Catholicism alien to their sensibilities and younger Catholics, in particular, unless they belong to current traditionalist movements or frequent such Churches as London's Brompton Oratory, may find that it does not correspond much with their ideas and experience of faith and the Church.

Some audiences have reacted favourably to the film. A number have judged that the film is anti-Catholic.

Leaving aside a review of the film as drama and not commenting on performance, photography, musical score and other technical aspects, the film is worth discussing in terms of representations of the Catholic Church.

The type of Catholicism in the film is very much that of of pre-1960s church. While a great deal of what the family pray, say, discuss and do bears the imprint of a rather sombre church (inherited from the 18th and 19th centuries steadfastness in the face of secular or, as the sub-title of the novel suggests, profane challenge), it represents a hierarchical, aristocratic interpretation of the Gospels and spirituality and devotions. While the characters have varying degrees of belief and lived commitment of faith, it is a faith that is part of ancestral heritage and status, sometimes more cultural than religious. Lisa Mullen, in her Sight and Sound review of the film (October 2008), tellingly refers to the Marchmain's Catholicism as 'an ancestral edict that cannot be shirked'.

The audience is invited to observe and assess the Catholicism through the eyes and experiences of Charles Ryder. He states that he is an atheist. Lady Marchmain suggests that he is really an agnostic but he insists on atheist. While he takes some holy water and genuflects as he first visits the home chapel with Sebastian, he says he is simply trying to fit in. But, he fits in less and less. He is dismayed by Lady Marchmain's frequently expressed language of God's will (when much of it is her own will or, actually, whim) and refers to 'God's limits'. He listens to Cara's version of easier-going Italian Catholicism and its sin, go to confession and sin again pastoral practice. He respects Lord Marchmain's wish not to have a priest at his deathbed but is both moved and puzzled by the change of heart which leads Lord Marchmain to accept Fr McKay's presence, the sacrament of Extreme Unction (its name at that time) and his sign of acceptance by making the sign of the cross as he dies.

This is material that the audience needs time to reflect on as does Charles. When he returns to Bridehead, occupied by the troops during the war, he goes into the chapel, remembers the Flytes and goes to extinguish the candle, hesitates, and does not. This is a fine evocative visual symbol for open-mindedness – that, while there is no problem dramatising the doubts of a believer, audiences tend not to be sympathetic to or are surprised at the doubts of an atheist.. As Charles listens to his ordinary military assistant and his blithe summing up of life as birth, living and death (the philosophy of the brave new world and hopes after World War II), Charles' experience of Bridehead and the Flytes suggest that he reassess his memories, both sacred and profane.

But what is the nature of these sacred memories?

The Flyte experience of the Catholic Church is from the tradition of the Recusant families, those who stood fast against the Reformation for both religious and civil ideologies and who, at best, developed a profound belief and devout practice. Their chaplains in the 17th and 18th centuries, many trained in France, often brought back more rigid ideas and practices which emphasised the language of sin and saving one's soul, as Julia laments about her mother's attitude to her when she was a girl, that she was 'a bad little girl'. By the 20th century, the class system had separated families like the Flytes from ordinary people and, indeed, ordinary Catholics. There was a great deal going on in the English Catholicism of the 1920s and 1930s. The Catholic Church was more that of the working classes (and the presence of Irish Catholics since the 19th century migrations) and the middle classes. The 1930s was a strong era of Catholic Action, of writing and publications and rethinking theology, of talks, discussions and arguments at Hyde Park Corner and the like, of Catholic Education and hospital and social care. Think Chesterton, for instance. While the Flyte family may have had connections with this kind of vital Catholic life, there is no evidence of its influence in the screenplay. The family gather in the chapel after dinner, pray together and sing the Salve Regina just as their ancestors did in the penal days.

This means that the Catholicism of the film is a niche Catholicism, so to speak. And, while it is accurate enough and needs to be portrayed, it is a pity if the average audience comes away thinking that this is it as far as Catholicism goes.
The danger is also in stereotyping – which does not mean that the stereotypes were not real: the genial Irish priest and his eagerness to administer the Last Rites, the easy and sometimes glib 'out' to refer to confession and absolution as the simple Catholic way of dealing with sin, the emphatic God language, the pervasiveness of guilt.

However, one of the striking things about the screenplay by Andrew Davies (a veteran of adapting literary works for the big and small screen) and Jeremy Brock (who may or may not have extensive knowledge of matters Catholic), is the character of Lady Marchmain, brought to vivid and sometimes alarming life by Emma Thompson, and the words put into her mouth.

She speaks about the Church, about faith, about sin, in a way that a majority of clergy spoke at that time and earlier. She has a hierarchical approach to everything, observing life and behaviour from a higher moral ground which leads to an assumed certainty and a snobbish and sometimes intolerant imposition of what she believes and wants in the name of God. She does back down somewhat as she loses her children, something which bewilders her (as it still does bishops, clergy and devout older Catholics faced with their sons and daughters abandoning church practice in the last four decades).

In this way, we can see in the film that her behaviour as mother is parallel to some traditions of 'Mother Church'. She avows to Charles that she has wanted what was best for her children, something which has, in fact, hindered their growth, Julia confident on the surface but with a pervasive fear of her mother and of God, Sebastian and the complexities of his homosexual orientation and his alcoholism. Bridey is simply Lady Marchmain in the next generation.

But mother, and Mother Church, in imposing religious values and practice by simply demanding them rather than assisting the children to grow, assimilate the values and mature into an adult faith, either reproduces replicas, stifles moral growth or alienates the children, driving them away and, in making their experiences bitter, leads them to reject everything their mother stands for.

In this way, the film of Brideshead Revisited, while focusing on a limited and exclusive section of the English Catholic Church of the past, does offer a real model of what has happened in the broader Church, especially in the latter part of the 20th century in terms of lack of interest, rejection or hostility towards the Church.

Brideshead Revisited does not seem to be anti-Catholic as a film dramatising the changes in much of 20th century Catholicism – which may irritate those who love the Church – but, rather, a film challenging beliefs and practices. Which could lead to healthy reflection, re-assessment and discussion.

Note:

The press kit for the film (not always the most trustworthy source for opinions and statements) offers an interesting writer's perspective in quoting screen-writer, Jeremy Brock.

Referrring to Lady Marchmain: A staunch Roman Catholic, she is the religious centre of the novel and the film, binding all the characters together and, in the case of the Marchmain children, largely informing who they are, directing their decisions both subconsciously when they were growing up and consciously as they become adults. Brock says, 'She carries the burden of the religious themes. She is the most articulate advocate for the Catholic point of view in the film and stands out because of that. It also inevitably means she is going to be one of Charles' main adversaries... As religion is one of the central themes and narratives spinning around the central love story, the film explores how religion plays into people's lives, how it informs who they are and how they attempt to escape it or rewrite it in order to become themselves. Brock also refers to the difficulties Charles Ryder faces as an atheist trying to comprehend the power of that faith.

Hayley Attwell, speaking of her performance as Julia says, 'At the beginning of the film she describes herself as half heathen, as she rebels slightly from her upbringing in this big house and very dominant Catholic family. Charles then enters her life and opens her eyes to a new world, but ultimately she is on a journey to discover whether her life is predestined or whether she has the freedom to follow her heart. It's a struggle for her, to find out who she is and what she truly desires compared to what she thinks God wants from her and for her. She ultimately chooses God, the greatest good and highest source of all life, over Charles and romance. But I think it's far more complicated and interesting than just giving up man. Julia finally discovers who she really is and she is happy. It's a revelation rather than a sad ending for her. She's taking on a faith which is a huge thing – quite a miraculous and wonderful thing for many people.'

This kind of comment on religious and church issues is not often found in connection with a film and it is to be welcomed.

1.The status of Evelyn Waugh as a British novelist, this novel? The 80s miniseries? A 21st century interpretation?

2.The adaptation of a novel: omissions, inclusions, treatment of themes, the perspective on the 1920s and 30s, Britain, class, wealth, snobbery? Issues of religion, the Catholic church, belief, practice, ideology? Atheism? The post-war hopes and perspectives?

3.Howard Castle, the magnificence of the building, the grounds, the interiors, the works of art, the chapel? The aristocratic way of life? Lord and Lady Marchmain? The Flyte family?

4.The contrast with Paddington, the Ryders’ home, Charles, his father’s seclusion, near Paddington station? Middle class?

5.Oxford, Sebastian’s world, Charles entering it, the ethos of Oxford, the colleges, aristocracy, the way of life?Venice, the beauty of Venice compared with Britain? The Morocco locations for Sebastian and Charles?

6.The re-creation of the period, the 1920s, 1930s, costumes, décor, music? The occupation of Brideshead in World War Two?

7.British heritage, beauty, the isolation of the family, the isolation of class? The musical score?

8.The title, Charles, his voice-over, the audience observing everything through him? Fascinated by the family, repelled by their religion? The mystery of the Flyte family? Aristocracy, style, class, wealth? Religion and its dominance? Charles and his return during the war, the war atmosphere?

9.Charles and his memories, going into the jungle, his art, exhibition, his marriage, on board the boat, feted, his being dissatisfied, glimpsing Julia, pursuing her? Their meeting? The reprisal of this episode, the sexual encounter, their decisions, returning to Brideshead, the reactions of the family, especially Bridley, Rex’s reaction, Charles’s father, the Flyte family?

10.Charles and his background, middle-class school, his family, his father and his mother’s death, his character, wanting to be an artist? His father supporting him financially? His atheistic beliefs, going to Oxford, charmed, Jasper showing him round, listening to Sebastian and his friends, the camp behaviour, the condemnation of their homosexuality? Sebastian vomiting in his window? His cleaning up – and the servant wanting to clean up and seeing it as a privilege? Receiving Sebastian’s flowers, going to the meal, drinking together? The coterie, the meal, discussions about schools? Sebastian and his homosexual orientation? Charles being warned? Their time together, affection, the later kiss, the effect on each of them? Charles going to Brideshead, meeting Nanny, the rosary, her prayer? Going into the chapel, taking holy water, genuflecting, wanting to fit in? The glimpse of Julia in the car? His holiday at home, the note, his being summoned to Brideshead, Julia meeting him?

11.Lady Marchmain’s arrival, swimming with Sebastian, naked, watching, Julia and her message, Lady Marchmain and her authority, the meal, the comment on Charles’s clothes, grace before meals, Sebastian and his behaviour at the table, the tensions in conversation? Lord Marchmain and his moving from England, going to Venice, setting up with Cara? The prayer after the meal, the chapel, the singing of the Salve Regina? Charles’s talk with Lady Marchmain, her relying on him, her wanting him to supervise Sebastian?

12.Lady Marchmain as the matriarch, the impact on her children, the importance of her Catholicism, faith, her God-language, her discipline, her prayer? Exclusive Catholicism? The family chaplain? Protecting her children yet driving them away? Her children’s dislike of her? Her understanding Charles’s affection for Julia? The engagement party, Charles giving Sebastian money for drinking, the confrontation with Lady Marchmain, her ousting him? The four years passing, her coming to London to ask him to go to Morocco? The sadness of her life, separation from her decision, her death?

13.The contrast with the holiday in Venice, Lord Marchmain and his villa, Cara, the joy of the visit, tourists, the meals, the art? Marchmain’s life and his resentment of his wife? Cara, Italian, her comments on Italian Catholicism, sinning and going to confession? Sebastian, enjoying Venice, his seeing Charles kiss Julia? His alienation?

14.After Venice, Sebastian and his withdrawal, at Oxford? Charles and his affection for Julia? The engagement party, the introduction to Rex?

15.Rex, the American, converting to Catholicism, exploiting the situation, separating from Julia, the deal to get some of Charles’s art and release Julia? Julia’s listening in, her resentment at being bought?

16.Charles, the effect of Brideshead, of the family, of their religious belief, his antagonism towards them?

17.Julia and Charles, the relationship, Bridley and his disapproval, the replica of his mother? Julia and Charles leaving, seeing Lord Marchmain return, Cara’s words, his dying, the issue of the priest, the priest being ousted, Julia and her deep religious feelings, her memories of her mother instilling that she was a bad girl, her feelings of guilt because of her mother? The priest, the last rites, Lord Marchmain and his sign, making the sign of the cross? Charles’s dismay?

18.Charles, the experience of Lord Marchmain’s death, the religious rites? Julia and her inability to go with him, his leaving?

19.Charles returning to Brideshead, the family evacuated, the occupation of the troops, the change, the past gone? Discussions with his assistant, the cheerful atheism? The hopes for post-war England?

20.Charles, finally going into the chapel, looking at the painting, the candle, his not extinguishing it? His own doubts – and becoming open to the world of Brideshead?

 

BRIDESHEAD REVISITED

UK, 2008, 133 minutes, Colour.
Matthew Goode, Ben Whishaw, Hayley Atwell, Emma Thompson, Michael Gambon, Greta Scacchi, Patrick Malahide, Ed Stoppard, Jonathan Cake, Niall Buggy.
Directed by Julian Jarrold.

Evelyn Waugh's celebrated 1945 novel was something of a departure from his more satirical books like Decline and Fall, Vile Bodies,Scoop. It was a serious observation of a traditional and wealthy English Catholic family of the 1920s and 1930s, the nature of their allegiance to the Church, particular aspects of their faith and its being part of their aristocratic culture. The observations are made by Charles Ryder who comes from a middle class family, who declares himself an atheist, who is both fascinated and repelled by this kind of religious faith and behaviour just as Waugh himself satirised but seemed to be drawn to the Brideshead way of life and its snobbery. The novel was sub-titled 'The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder'.

Waugh himself was a convert to Catholicism in 1930.

Response to this 2008 film version, which did not perform well at the US box office and is about to open in the UK , Australia and other English-speaking countries in October, will depend very much on the audience's age. There will be those who have read the book and have their ideas on how literary adaptations should be filmed. There will be those who saw the 1981, 12 episode television series, which still has the reputation of a television masterpiece (written by John Mortimer and starring Jeremy Irons, Anthony Andrews, Diana Quick with celebrity cameos by Olivier, Giulgud and Claire Bloom). A film running just over two hours cannot hope to compete in storytelling with this series.

For a younger audience unfamiliar with novel or series, this may seem just another 'English heritage' film along with those from the Merchant-Ivory? company. Not having lived through the period, they may well find the portrait of Catholicism alien to their sensibilities and younger Catholics, in particular, unless they belong to current traditionalist movements or frequent such Churches as London's Brompton Oratory, may find that it does not correspond much with their ideas and experience of faith and the Church.

Some audiences have reacted favourably to the film. A number have judged that the film is anti-Catholic.

Leaving aside a review of the film as drama and not commenting on performance, photography, musical score and other technical aspects, the film is worth discussing in terms of representations of the Catholic Church.

The type of Catholicism in the film is very much that of of pre-1960s church. While a great deal of what the family pray, say, discuss and do bears the imprint of a rather sombre church (inherited from the 18th and 19th centuries steadfastness in the face of secular or, as the sub-title of the novel suggests, profane challenge), it represents a hierarchical, aristocratic interpretation of the Gospels and spirituality and devotions. While the characters have varying degrees of belief and lived commitment of faith, it is a faith that is part of ancestral heritage and status, sometimes more cultural than religious. Lisa Mullen, in her Sight and Sound review of the film (October 2008), tellingly refers to the Marchmain's Catholicism as 'an ancestral edict that cannot be shirked'.

The audience is invited to observe and assess the Catholicism through the eyes and experiences of Charles Ryder. He states that he is an atheist. Lady Marchmain suggests that he is really an agnostic but he insists on atheist. While he takes some holy water and genuflects as he first visits the home chapel with Sebastian, he says he is simply trying to fit in. But, he fits in less and less. He is dismayed by Lady Marchmain's frequently expressed language of God's will (when much of it is her own will or, actually, whim) and refers to 'God's limits'. He listens to Cara's version of easier-going Italian Catholicism and its sin, go to confession and sin again pastoral practice. He respects Lord Marchmain's wish not to have a priest at his deathbed but is both moved and puzzled by the change of heart which leads Lord Marchmain to accept Fr McKay's presence, the sacrament of Extreme Unction (its name at that time) and his sign of acceptance by making the sign of the cross as he dies.

This is material that the audience needs time to reflect on as does Charles. When he returns to Bridehead, occupied by the troops during the war, he goes into the chapel, remembers the Flytes and goes to extinguish the candle, hesitates, and does not. This is a fine evocative visual symbol for open-mindedness – that, while there is no problem dramatising the doubts of a believer, audiences tend not to be sympathetic to or are surprised at the doubts of an atheist.. As Charles listens to his ordinary military assistant and his blithe summing up of life as birth, living and death (the philosophy of the brave new world and hopes after World War II), Charles' experience of Bridehead and the Flytes suggest that he reassess his memories, both sacred and profane.

But what is the nature of these sacred memories?

The Flyte experience of the Catholic Church is from the tradition of the Recusant families, those who stood fast against the Reformation for both religious and civil ideologies and who, at best, developed a profound belief and devout practice. Their chaplains in the 17th and 18th centuries, many trained in France, often brought back more rigid ideas and practices which emphasised the language of sin and saving one's soul, as Julia laments about her mother's attitude to her when she was a girl, that she was 'a bad little girl'. By the 20th century, the class system had separated families like the Flytes from ordinary people and, indeed, ordinary Catholics. There was a great deal going on in the English Catholicism of the 1920s and 1930s. The Catholic Church was more that of the working classes (and the presence of Irish Catholics since the 19th century migrations) and the middle classes. The 1930s was a strong era of Catholic Action, of writing and publications and rethinking theology, of talks, discussions and arguments at Hyde Park Corner and the like, of Catholic Education and hospital and social care. Think Chesterton, for instance. While the Flyte family may have had connections with this kind of vital Catholic life, there is no evidence of its influence in the screenplay. The family gather in the chapel after dinner, pray together and sing the Salve Regina just as their ancestors did in the penal days.

This means that the Catholicism of the film is a niche Catholicism, so to speak. And, while it is accurate enough and needs to be portrayed, it is a pity if the average audience comes away thinking that this is it as far as Catholicism goes.
The danger is also in stereotyping – which does not mean that the stereotypes were not real: the genial Irish priest and his eagerness to administer the Last Rites, the easy and sometimes glib 'out' to refer to confession and absolution as the simple Catholic way of dealing with sin, the emphatic God language, the pervasiveness of guilt.

However, one of the striking things about the screenplay by Andrew Davies (a veteran of adapting literary works for the big and small screen) and Jeremy Brock (who may or may not have extensive knowledge of matters Catholic), is the character of Lady Marchmain, brought to vivid and sometimes alarming life by Emma Thompson, and the words put into her mouth.

She speaks about the Church, about faith, about sin, in a way that a majority of clergy spoke at that time and earlier. She has a hierarchical approach to everything, observing life and behaviour from a higher moral ground which leads to an assumed certainty and a snobbish and sometimes intolerant imposition of what she believes and wants in the name of God. She does back down somewhat as she loses her children, something which bewilders her (as it still does bishops, clergy and devout older Catholics faced with their sons and daughters abandoning church practice in the last four decades).

In this way, we can see in the film that her behaviour as mother is parallel to some traditions of 'Mother Church'. She avows to Charles that she has wanted what was best for her children, something which has, in fact, hindered their growth, Julia confident on the surface but with a pervasive fear of her mother and of God, Sebastian and the complexities of his homosexual orientation and his alcoholism. Bridey is simply Lady Marchmain in the next generation.

But mother, and Mother Church, in imposing religious values and practice by simply demanding them rather than assisting the children to grow, assimilate the values and mature into an adult faith, either reproduces replicas, stifles moral growth or alienates the children, driving them away and, in making their experiences bitter, leads them to reject everything their mother stands for.

In this way, the film of Brideshead Revisited, while focusing on a limited and exclusive section of the English Catholic Church of the past, does offer a real model of what has happened in the broader Church, especially in the latter part of the 20th century in terms of lack of interest, rejection or hostility towards the Church.

Brideshead Revisited does not seem to be anti-Catholic as a film dramatising the changes in much of 20th century Catholicism – which may irritate those who love the Church – but, rather, a film challenging beliefs and practices. Which could lead to healthy reflection, re-assessment and discussion.

Note:

The press kit for the film (not always the most trustworthy source for opinions and statements) offers an interesting writer's perspective in quoting screen-writer, Jeremy Brock.

Referrring to Lady Marchmain: A staunch Roman Catholic, she is the religious centre of the novel and the film, binding all the characters together and, in the case of the Marchmain children, largely informing who they are, directing their decisions both subconsciously when they were growing up and consciously as they become adults. Brock says, 'She carries the burden of the religious themes. She is the most articulate advocate for the Catholic point of view in the film and stands out because of that. It also inevitably means she is going to be one of Charles' main adversaries... As religion is one of the central themes and narratives spinning around the central love story, the film explores how religion plays into people's lives, how it informs who they are and how they attempt to escape it or rewrite it in order to become themselves. Brock also refers to the difficulties Charles Ryder faces as an atheist trying to comprehend the power of that faith.

Hayley Attwell, speaking of her performance as Julia says, 'At the beginning of the film she describes herself as half heathen, as she rebels slightly from her upbringing in this big house and very dominant Catholic family. Charles then enters her life and opens her eyes to a new world, but ultimately she is on a journey to discover whether her life is predestined or whether she has the freedom to follow her heart. It's a struggle for her, to find out who she is and what she truly desires compared to what she thinks God wants from her and for her. She ultimately chooses God, the greatest good and highest source of all life, over Charles and romance. But I think it's far more complicated and interesting than just giving up man. Julia finally discovers who she really is and she is happy. It's a revelation rather than a sad ending for her. She's taking on a faith which is a huge thing – quite a miraculous and wonderful thing for many people.'

This kind of comment on religious and church issues is not often found in connection with a film and it is to be welcomed.

1.The status of Evelyn Waugh as a British novelist, this novel? The 80s miniseries? A 21st century interpretation?

2.The adaptation of a novel: omissions, inclusions, treatment of themes, the perspective on the 1920s and 30s, Britain, class, wealth, snobbery? Issues of religion, the Catholic church, belief, practice, ideology? Atheism? The post-war hopes and perspectives?

3.Howard Castle, the magnificence of the building, the grounds, the interiors, the works of art, the chapel? The aristocratic way of life? Lord and Lady Marchmain? The Flyte family?

4.The contrast with Paddington, the Ryders’ home, Charles, his father’s seclusion, near Paddington station? Middle class?

5.Oxford, Sebastian’s world, Charles entering it, the ethos of Oxford, the colleges, aristocracy, the way of life?Venice, the beauty of Venice compared with Britain? The Morocco locations for Sebastian and Charles?

6.The re-creation of the period, the 1920s, 1930s, costumes, décor, music? The occupation of Brideshead in World War Two?

7.British heritage, beauty, the isolation of the family, the isolation of class? The musical score?

8.The title, Charles, his voice-over, the audience observing everything through him? Fascinated by the family, repelled by their religion? The mystery of the Flyte family? Aristocracy, style, class, wealth? Religion and its dominance? Charles and his return during the war, the war atmosphere?

9.Charles and his memories, going into the jungle, his art, exhibition, his marriage, on board the boat, feted, his being dissatisfied, glimpsing Julia, pursuing her? Their meeting? The reprisal of this episode, the sexual encounter, their decisions, returning to Brideshead, the reactions of the family, especially Bridley, Rex’s reaction, Charles’s father, the Flyte family?

10.Charles and his background, middle-class school, his family, his father and his mother’s death, his character, wanting to be an artist? His father supporting him financially? His atheistic beliefs, going to Oxford, charmed, Jasper showing him round, listening to Sebastian and his friends, the camp behaviour, the condemnation of their homosexuality? Sebastian vomiting in his window? His cleaning up – and the servant wanting to clean up and seeing it as a privilege? Receiving Sebastian’s flowers, going to the meal, drinking together? The coterie, the meal, discussions about schools? Sebastian and his homosexual orientation? Charles being warned? Their time together, affection, the later kiss, the effect on each of them? Charles going to Brideshead, meeting Nanny, the rosary, her prayer? Going into the chapel, taking holy water, genuflecting, wanting to fit in? The glimpse of Julia in the car? His holiday at home, the note, his being summoned to Brideshead, Julia meeting him?

11.Lady Marchmain’s arrival, swimming with Sebastian, naked, watching, Julia and her message, Lady Marchmain and her authority, the meal, the comment on Charles’s clothes, grace before meals, Sebastian and his behaviour at the table, the tensions in conversation? Lord Marchmain and his moving from England, going to Venice, setting up with Cara? The prayer after the meal, the chapel, the singing of the Salve Regina? Charles’s talk with Lady Marchmain, her relying on him, her wanting him to supervise Sebastian?

12.Lady Marchmain as the matriarch, the impact on her children, the importance of her Catholicism, faith, her God-language, her discipline, her prayer? Exclusive Catholicism? The family chaplain? Protecting her children yet driving them away? Her children’s dislike of her? Her understanding Charles’s affection for Julia? The engagement party, Charles giving Sebastian money for drinking, the confrontation with Lady Marchmain, her ousting him? The four years passing, her coming to London to ask him to go to Morocco? The sadness of her life, separation from her decision, her death?

13.The contrast with the holiday in Venice, Lord Marchmain and his villa, Cara, the joy of the visit, tourists, the meals, the art? Marchmain’s life and his resentment of his wife? Cara, Italian, her comments on Italian Catholicism, sinning and going to confession? Sebastian, enjoying Venice, his seeing Charles kiss Julia? His alienation?

14.After Venice, Sebastian and his withdrawal, at Oxford? Charles and his affection for Julia? The engagement party, the introduction to Rex?

15.Rex, the American, converting to Catholicism, exploiting the situation, separating from Julia, the deal to get some of Charles’s art and release Julia? Julia’s listening in, her resentment at being bought?

16.Charles, the effect of Brideshead, of the family, of their religious belief, his antagonism towards them?

17.Julia and Charles, the relationship, Bridley and his disapproval, the replica of his mother? Julia and Charles leaving, seeing Lord Marchmain return, Cara’s words, his dying, the issue of the priest, the priest being ousted, Julia and her deep religious feelings, her memories of her mother instilling that she was a bad girl, her feelings of guilt because of her mother? The priest, the last rites, Lord Marchmain and his sign, making the sign of the cross? Charles’s dismay?

18.Charles, the experience of Lord Marchmain’s death, the religious rites? Julia and her inability to go with him,
19.his leaving?

20.Charles returning to Brideshead, the family evacuated, the occupation of the troops, the change, the past gone? Discussions with his assistant, the cheerful atheism? The hopes for post-war England?

21.Charles, finally going into the chapel, looking at the painting, the candle, his not extinguishing it? His own doubts – and becoming open to the world of Brideshead?