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It is my job to keep smut out of England—and this is smut.
Says a customs official to Adam Symes the protagonist of Bright Young Things director and screenwriter Stephen Fry’s adaptation of the Evelyn Waugh novel, Vile Bodies. This scene, as the one copy of Symes’ novel for which he has already received an advance is confiscated servers as both a contrast to the never-ending party of the English upper classes between the wars and as a device to disallow Symes’ to marry his girlfriend, as he has not money nor his book.
The plot then follows the fortunes of Adam Symes as chance gives him money and he carelessly throws it away and as his romance ebbs and flows. All set in the frenetic social whirl, that he both chronicles and (with great humore0 embellishes and invents for the readers of a society gossip column that he is forced to write to make ends meet.
All the while he attends one party after another, each a bit more decadent than the one before—and each where a bit more champagne and cocaine consumed than the day before.
Along the way there is an incredible amount of humor as each scene and party is a bit funnier than the one before. Early on for example, the partier par excellance, Agatha (Fenella Woolgar) becomes inadvertently responsible for the forced resignation of the Prime Minister. She is also one of the many causalities of the lifestyle led but remains, to the end dedicated to good times as she manages to have a party even in an asylum.
Fry, in his first directorial effort manages the laughs very well indeed. But this would not be enough by itself to recommend the film. As one would expect from the source (Waugh), there is an edge and a price to be paid.
Both Waugh and Fry have great sympathy for their flawed characters—and the coming war allows at least two to redeem themselves.
Highly recommended for those who like period pieces. Or for those who want sorrow wrapped in a gaudy package.
ˇTime is not my master!
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