Bright Young Things (2003)

An adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's novel "Vile Bodies," is a look into the lives of a young novelist, his would-be lover, and a host of young people who beautified London in the 1930s.

Director:

Stephen Fry

Writers:

Stephen Fry (screenplay), Evelyn Waugh (novel)

Stars:

James McAvoy, Emily Mortimer, Stephen Campbell Moore

10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
James McAvoy	...	Simon Balcairn
Michael Sheen	...	Miles
Emily Mortimer	...	Nina Blount
Stephen Campbell Moore	...	Adam Fenwick-Symes
Stockard Channing	...	Mrs. Melrose Ape
Adrian Scarborough	...	Customs Officer
Jim Carter	...	Chief Customs Officer
Fenella Woolgar	...	Agatha
Dan Aykroyd	...	Lord Monomark
Julia McKenzie	...	Lottie Crump
Bruno Lastra	...	Basilio
David Tennant	...	Ginger Littlejohn
Jim Broadbent	...	The Drunken Major
John Franklyn-Robbins	...	Judge
Simon Callow	...	King of Anatolia

Storyline

A fool and his money. In the 1930s, Adam Fenwick-Symes is part of the English idle class, wanting to marry the flighty Nina Blount. He's a novelist with a hundred-pound advance for a manuscript confiscated by English customs. He spends the next several years trying to get money and to set a wedding date: he trades in gossip, wins money on wagers then gives it to a drunken major who's suggested he bet on a horse in an upcoming race. Adam tries to get the money back, but can't find the major. Meanwhile, Nina needs security, friends drink too much, and general unhappiness spoils the party. Then war breaks out. Is Adam's bright youth dimming with the fall of an empire?

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Plot Keywords:

money | novelist | major | 1930s | general | 

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Taglines:

Sex... Scandal... Celebrity... Some things never change.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Offical Site with synopsis, trailer, cast & crew Revolution Films

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 October 2003 (UK)

Also Known As:

Agria niata

Filming Locations:

Eltham Palace, Court Road, Eltham, London, England, UK

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$46,926 (USA) (20 August 2004)

Gross:

$931,755 (USA) (12 November 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Film Consortium, The, UK Film Council, Visionview Production

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min 105 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film is produced by Doubting Hall Productions, reflecting Colonel Blount's (resident of Doubting Hall) foray into film-making in Evelyn Waugh's "Vile Bodies", the book on which the film is based.

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Goofs

A gramophone record of Noel Coward's "Nina" is played in the section before World War II breaks out. Coward didn't record the song until 1945.

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Quotes

Simon Balcairn: [Telling his fake news story] Never, never, never have such scenes been witnessed in high society, that uneasy alliance between Bright Young Things and old survivors. Perhaps this was the defining moment of our epoch of speed and syncopation. This so-called 20th century of angst, neurosis and panic. Reader be glad that you have nothing to do with this world. Its glamour is a delusion, its speed a snare, its music a scream of fear. Faster and faster they swirl, sickening themselves with every ...
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in Friday Night with Jonathan Ross: Episode #2.10 (2002)

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Soundtracks

"Hear My Song, Violetta"
Performed by Victor Sylvester & His Orchestra

User Reviews

An Acid Satire With Serious Pretensions

"Bright Young Things" is a mostly effective satire, with some jarring seriousness thrown in, of "Masterpiece Theater" Jazz Age costume dramas for its first seven-eighths.

Set in the same period as "Gosford Park," its conflicts are just within the sexual and financial eccentricities of the empty-headed leisure and wannabe leisure class, where titles don't match income or outflow.

It is more of a visual evocation of Noel Coward songs and incorporates some of his numbers, as well as original sound-alike songs. The frolics have some similarities to the simultaneous Weimar Republic portrayed in "Cabaret."

Stephen Campbell Moore as the protagonist is almost too good in his film debut, as his character's captivatingly serious eyes and demeanor conflict with his insouciant company, particularly Emily Mortimer as his dispassionate lover, though that justifies the stuck-on denouement, that even without having read the Evelyn Waugh book this is adapted from, "Vile Bodies," I can tell didn't have this too neat and comeuppance tying-up.

The most pointed parts of the movie are its acid documentation of the birth of the tabloid gossip press, including Dan Ackroyd as a Canadian press baron with a more than passing resemblance to today's lords of Fleet Street. James McAvoy is very good as a more upper-class betraying precursor to his scandal-seeking scion reporter in the mini-series "State of Play," and manages to seem like a real person, unlike so many of the characters who are just types or plot conveniences.

The production design and costumes are delightful.