In the press notes for this new film version of Brideshead, the filmmakers acknowledge how pleased the Waugh estate is that they have decided to stress the romance between Charles and Julia. I’m glad that Waugh’s heirs are so pleased that the book has now been turned into a conventional heterosexual romance, and surely they’re also guardedly pleased that Sebastian has been definitively hauled out of the closet while Charles is now straight and nothing but. A scene has been added for this new version where [Sebastian] tipsily kisses [Charles]on the mouth, and though Charles doesn’t really deflect the kiss, Sebastian gradually realizes that he’s being sensitively rebuffed by his friend. This scene will gratify the more literal-minded who have been wondering about these two all these years, yet this clarification kills all of the suggestiveness and mystery that remains in the material. In the early ’80s, you could still get away with telling a gay love story without daring to speak its name. In 2008, there’s no way to leave the Charles and Sebastian question open, which says a lot about social progress but also tells us why Waugh’s story doesn’t work anymore.
— Dan Callahan (Slant Magazine)
Synopsis: Artist Charles Ryder runs into aristocrat Julia Flyte and recalls his friendship with her eccentric family prior to the outbreak of the Second World War.