A Handful of Dust (1988)

The wife's affair and a death in the family hasten the demise of an upper-class English marriage.

Director:

Charles Sturridge

Writers:

Evelyn Waugh (novel), Tim Sullivan (screenplay)

Stars:

James Wilby, Kristin Scott Thomas, Richard Beale

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 3 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
James Wilby	...	Tony Last
Kristin Scott Thomas	...	Brenda Last
Richard Beale	...	Ben
Jackson Kyle	...	John Andrew
Norman Lumsden	...	Ambrose
Jeanne Watts	...	Nanny
Kate Percival	...	Miss Ripon
Richard Leech	...	Doctor
Roger Milner	...	Vicar
Tristram Jellinek	...	Richard Last
Anjelica Huston	...	Mrs. Rattery
Rupert Graves	...	John Beaver
Judi Dench	...	Mrs. Beaver
Pip Torrens	...	Jock
Beatie Edney	...	Marjorie

Storyline

We see the detritus of an abandoned camp in South America and a main character's hallucination. Then, the story beings. Tony and Brenda Last, lord and lady, live on his enormous estate with their young son. Tony's not much for parties, and Brenda joins London society, on the arm of a penniless man, John Beaver, a hanger-on at Tony's club. John is encouraged by his entrepreneurial mother, who sees a quid in Tony and Brenda. Brenda and John become lovers, Brenda spends more and more time in London, and Tony's without a clue. Then, bringing things to a head are tragedy, law suits, greed, and what should be a few-months' expedition to Brazil. We are each of us merely a handful of dust.

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Plot Keywords:

class differences | cheating wife | adultery | death of son | 1930s | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 June 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

Evelyn Waugh's A Handful of Dust

Filming Locations:

Highclere Castle, Highclere, Hampshire, England, UK

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$35,470, 26 June 1988

Gross USA:

$1,560,700

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,560,700

Company Credits

Production Co:

Handful of Dust, Stagescreen Productions, London Weekend Television (LWT)

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Fujicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This movie was set in England during the 1930s.

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Quotes

Dr. Messinger: Are you acquainted with a Nicaraguan who calls himself alternately Ponsonby or Fitzmaurice?

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: Arthur 2: On the Rocks/Short Circuit 2/Coming to America/A Handful of Dust/License to Drive (1988)

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Soundtracks

Praise My Soul King Of Heaven
(uncredited)
Music by William Ringham
Words based on Psalm 103

User Reviews

Or the 'friendlier' Evelyn Waugh...

The filmmakers of 'A Handful of Dust' are the same creative dynamos behind the hugely popular 'Brideshead Revisited'. They take the approach they took to 'Brideshead', which Waugh wrote when he was happy, with 'Dust', a novel which Waugh wrote when he wife was cheating on him and when he hated his life. 'Brideshead' was a much happier novel, and many purists consider it not to be a good work of Waugh's because it is lacking the acidic wit, satire and disgust of his characters which can be found in many (though not all) of his works. 'Brideshead' is a slow novel, something which most Waugh novels aren't, and comes as close as Waugh ever came to writing a soap opera. So, instead of giving us a sharp, nasty satire, which the novel itself is, we get a blander, kinder and very unfunny version of the novel. The moral bankruptcy of the characters, more or less the point of the whole novel, is hardly registered. The characters are having a "jolly good time" doing some bad things, but Sturridge and the two other writers (!) don't convey that what their characters are doing is bad. They skip over it, and instead spend all their time in giving away plot twists in the beginning of the film, to create "suspense", and restructuring the film, so all the unimportant scenes get maximum screen time. Even with the nice scenery, the film lacks the speed and fragmentary narrative of the novel, one of the reasons why the novel was considered so revolutionary, and comes across as a blah, nearly witless, edited-for-TV episode of Masterpiece Theater, instead of the theatrical film which it is and should be. This shouldn't come as a surprise, though: 'Brideshead Revisted' aired for months on Masterpiece Theater. The actors, though many are miscast, do their best, most of the technical aspects are there in some form, but the real problem lies with the filmmakers and their unwillingness to make a film which might be dark, mean or angry.