(12A)
The key question is this. Does this English Heritage-drenched film of Evelyn Waugh's classic 1945 novel match up to the landmark 1980s ITV mini-series. Regrettably, the answer is no.
Having worked (in a very lowly capacity) on the TV series, I find director Julian Jarrold's film perhaps more faithful to the novel's religious themes, but a much lighter, lesser piece of work, and, compared with the mini-series, seriously under-cast.
The story begins at Oxford in 1925 where undergraduate Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode) is befriended by louche young aristocrat Sebastian Flyte (Ben Wishaw) who draws him into his privileged home life. There Ryder falls for Flyte's sister Julia (Hayley Atwell) only to find himself increasingly at odds with the family's preoccupation with privilege and Catholicism.