By PETER CALDER
(Herald rating: * * *)
On a visit to this country, Stephen Fry impressed as enthusiastic and entertaining, if a trifle anxious to please, and his debut as director, an energetic and pacy adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's 1930 novel Vile Bodies, is much the same.
Devotees of Waugh, however, will
lament the absence of the darkly ironic vision, particularly given that the film goes for a happy ending where the writer - who entitled his last chapter "Happy Ending" - left us with the unforgettable image of a dead tree on a battlefield.
What the film has in its favour is that we live in an age bearing a depressing resemblance to the time on which Waugh turned his searching vision. Our bright young things sparkle more brightly than Waugh's because they are caught in the glare of television's lights, but the film has an eerie relevance to modern celebrity culture.
Chief among its bright young things is Adam Fenwick-Symes (Campbell-Moore), who has written a gossipy memoir of life among the London glitterati - keen young chaps and gals who rush from soiree to ball to party.
When, as he returns from a holiday in France, his book is deemed morally degenerate and confiscated by HM Customs, he has to tell his sweetheart, Nina Blount (Mortimer), that he cannot afford to marry her.
But wait - he wins £1000 on an unlikely bet. But wait - he gives it all to an extremely inebriated major (Broadbent) who says he has a sure thing on a horse. But wait - the major absconds. But wait ...
You get the idea. Fry, who wrote the adaptation, manages to make a diverting "will they-won't they" love story which is distinguished by its perfect eye for period design and abetted by a superb ensemble including brilliant cameos from Peter O'Toole and (particularly) a delicious, coke-addled, nonagenarian Sir John Mills.
He also captures the perennial idea that high society is an uneasy alliance between rich upstarts and thick-hided old survivors.
But the fact that he misses the satirical heart of the original is forgivable only because there is no evidence that he was ever aiming for it. The world he conjures up is busy and dizzy, and we barely glimpse the profound sadness that underlies the furious, desperate partying.
Cast: Stephen Campbell-Moore, Emily Mortimer, Fenella Woolgar, Imelda Staunton, Jim Broadbent
Director: Stephen Fry
Running time: 104 mins
Rating: M
Screening: Rialto, Bridgeway from Thursday.
By PETER CALDER
(Herald rating: * * *)
On a visit to this country, Stephen Fry impressed as enthusiastic and entertaining, if a trifle anxious to please, and his debut as director, an energetic and pacy adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's 1930 novel Vile Bodies, is much the same.
Devotees of Waugh, however, will
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