23. Bright Young Things (2003), dir. Stephen Fry

[strange_complex]

I should really have read the book this is based on before progressing to the film, so that I could see properly what Stephen Fry was doing with his source material. But it seemed like a natural fit on my Lovefilm list after Easy Virtue (the last film I saw), and a pleasant way to spend a Sunday evening. I can pick up the novel later

Comments

[ms_siobhan]

I really enjoyed the film and the book - I'm on a Waugh kick at the moment and shall be starting Scoop shortly. I loved the music and the costumes and thought both Fenella Woolgar and Michael Sheen were enchanting :-)

I saw the film (I took my youngest brother to see it in Jersey and he said afterwards he had thought it was going to be rubbish as he is more of a fan of bubblegum for your brain films but that he really enjoyed it) before I read the book and I enjoyed the book more, think it must be due a re-read though.

Sorry for not being in touch over the weekend - have sent you an email.

[strange_complex]

Yes, Michael Sheen was great too - you're right. Having seen him in a few things now I think he is very versatile. You can hardly believe he is the same person from role to role.

No worries at all about the weekend, and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow!

[rosamicula]

So does this all stem from just one scene actually written by Waugh, in which Adam sells Nina to Ginger half-way through Vile Bodies? I'll have to read it to find that out for sure. But if so, why have modern adaptations seized on the motif so eagerly and repeated it wherever they could manage? I suppose it is an easy way to convey a decadent society and morally-questionable characters. But I think I would prefer it if we didn't collectively seem to be quite so vicariously fascinated with it.

I think it is a very lazy kind of shorthand, and isn't remotely true to the book, because the women in Waugh usually have quite a bit more agency than this implies.

[strange_complex]

Although, considering what is fundamentally happening in these scenes, the women in the films come across with more agency than you might think. The 'sales' seem to me to be mainly about showing us the flaws and failures in the men for thinking that this is an acceptable way to behave, rather than seriously portraying the women as passive objects.

For example, Julia in the film of Brideshead Revisited goes absolutely apeshit at Charles for thinking that he can 'buy' her without even consulting her on the matter, and it's an extra reason why they don't end up together. So the 'sale' doesn't actually get Charles anywhere in the end. And Nina in Bright Young Things has already made it perfectly clear what she wants in both cases before Adam and Ginger start negotiating for her (e.g. by abandoning Adam and going off in Ginger's car at the races, and then later by keeping up a correspondence with Adam although married to Ginger).

But the way it keeps being repeated in the modern adaptations does suggest that Stephen Fry and Julian

[itsjustaname]

I love both the film and the book, and agree with your assessment of Fenella Woolgar, who I hadn't seen before this movie, she is definitely the stand-out in a very high quality cast.

[strange_complex]

IMDb sez she hadn't done much before this film, which makes her performance all the more impressive. It looks like it was pretty pivotal for her, too - she's been busy since.

[strange_complex]

No, that's fine! Thanks for introducing yourself, and it's nice to meet you. I am about to friend you, and will look forward to getting to know you. :-)