Aristocrats of Britain play about
By
DAVID CLARKSON
Evelyn Waugh’s novel of the British aristocracy playing about, “A Handful of Dust,” has been released as an absorbing video. The story concerns a young marriage which has suddenly and irretrievably gone wrong. The wife, Brenda (Kristin Scott Thomas), considers Mr Beaver (Rupert Graves) to be thoroughly pathetic, but sets about having an affair with him anyway. Her understanding husband, Tony (James Wilby), does not really understand much at all. He prefers to live like a recluse on his vast country estate.
Brenda meanwhile, has set herself up in a London flat, is happily committing adultery but worried about her husband getting plastered. A family tragedy will disclose the affair, and set the scene for a messy divorce. The video heads for an ending full of irony, with the young couple not understanding each other’s situation from beginning to end. Over it all looms the great bulk of the vast family home. The video also stars Alec Guinness and Judi Dench. It has been packed with keen observations, carefully filmed, and is beautifully presented.
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Press, 6 October 1989, Page 31
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182Aristocrats of Britain play about Press, 6 October 1989, Page 31
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