I am admittedly a sucker for a good British Period film and Brideshead the recent film and the older miniseries never disappoint. Based on the novel by Evelyn Waugh, "Brideshead Revisited" stands as both literature and as faith-based Oxford Movement icon, a special place in Anglo-Catholic romance literature.
I recall at Saint Michael's College the ruinous first floor rooms of Ryan Hall. And so at Oxford Charles has a first floor room and some trouble with the partying set. Just as Cousin Jasper warned us all.
I have read an account the encounter with the "Great Gadsby" and "Brideshead Revisited" among other Catholic British novels, by Aatif Rashid, in the Kenyon Review, about reflections on why this novel, "Brideshead Revisited" played such a role in his life. Aatif Rashid is the author of "Portrait of Sebastian Rashid" a novel. I have not yet read it, but I certainly plan to do so. Mr. Rashid approached the religious issues from the perspective of an Atheist and former Muslim, but also as former student at Oxford.
I've also read glowing articles by converts to Catholicism of the tome claiming it captures something of the mysterium tremendum of religious experience. I've moved away from Rome as a Christian, having recently decided that the reformed church practice of wearing a doctoral robe, as a pulpit robe, is the preferred liturgical garment of my ministry. I was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Divinity by my Protestant Church long ago when I began my ministry.
In any event, the star for me of the film, both miniseries and recent film, is the Castle Howard, or Brideshead Castle if you will. Bishop Barron says the same thing but adds that the bride is the Church and the head of the Church is Christ, and as the house calls people to it, so does the Church and Christ. I am not an artist, but I love architecture, and I've looked at house plans and architectural details much of my life. The Castle Howard is an amazing stately home and palace. Manor houses are the hub of country life. Champagne in the folly of the gardens would be amazing. But as I approach life, agnostic is something I can certainly better understand. And as much as the Church once called me to it, the scandals and abuses of some clergy have driven me away from Rome.
The injured foot of Sebastian Flyte, shows how the upperclasses take any injury to the extreme, if it is to themselves, and also for the film show an intimacy between Charles Ryder and Sebastian Flyte that is alluded to in ways that meet the Hays Code rules, ever present in film is the Catholic Church and their morals.
The great house looms heavy in the film as does the star, Catholic guilt. Vulgar is the same as funny, for many of us Homosexuals. So I take issue with Lady Marchmain's dinner time statement. But we'll leave that for another blog post.
I have recently attended an online conference on Atheism and it is a subject that interests me as a clergyman. Though not as much as the theme of grace and the "thread" or "invisible hook" which brings people back to faith and the Church. I think that the more modern film does a great job of showing Venice to be a beautiful place to visit.
I had a friend who adored Venice after visiting he collected prints and paintings of Venice and decorated his sitting room with them.
Well for now that is all the reflections I have on Brideshead, it isn't drawing me back to Rome as much as drawing me back to great literature, you see maybe I am just a simple Narrative Theologian after all.
It is true what Cara says about Italian Catholicism that the guilt isn't as heavy as Anglo-Catholicism, a true cultural difference. My Italian-Americn Grandmother would always assert that she was not a fanatic. I guess she thought me a little too religious at times. And indeed for part of my life I certainly was.
The film moves quickly, and the book and miniseries move slower. It is nice to see the difference in speed at which the story is told, but still the themes remain the same. So it is with each of us that life pulls us in different ways, back and forth.