Customer Reviews

The Line of Beauty

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Directed by Saul Dibbs, this opulent adaptation of Alan Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty - his decadent coming of age novel about love, class, sex and money set in the hypocritical Thatcherite Eighties - is indeed a feast for the eye. Beautifully acted, with a spot-on affinity for detailing time and place, The Line of Beauty replicates Hollinghurst's hedonistic themes and the moral quandaries of Nick Guest (Dan Stevens), the titular middle-class outsider in this world of privilege.

As with the book, this film adaptation begins in 1983 when the young twenty-year-old Nick Guest is asked by his friend Toby Fedden (Oliver Coleman) to come and stay with his family in their sumptuous Notting Hill home in the Kensington Park Gardens estate. Gerald Fedden (Tim McInnerny) is a sycophantic Tory Member of Parliament who is on the rise, and is basking in the glory of Thatcher's economic policies. Gerald lives with loyal wife Rachel (Alice Krigg), his daughter Catherine (Hayle Atwell), and Toby.

Nick's comes from a provincial, terribly middle class background - his father is a humble antiques dealer - but he is welcomed into the Fedden family like a type of surrogate son and over time, he becomes a kind of minder to the neurotic and troubled Catherine. Nick is wined and dined, enthusiastically partaking of the family's lavish parties and political dinners, trying to impress them in their superficial discussions on literature, art and antiques.

Nick tries his best to promote civility amongst their affluent boredom, but he's unsure of his footing in this opulent, prosperous looking-glass world. In fact, Dan Stevens plays Nick with a kind of wide-eyed, eloquent fury, always nicely mannered, but forever hidden is the ever-present pretension and affectation, and as he gazes hopefully into the gilt arch of the hall mirror, this troubled man finds it reluctant to give its approval.

Nick constantly has to remind himself that he is doing this all for pleasure, yet when he falls in love with Leo, (Don Gilet) a lusty black cockney and socialist council worker, he finds himself caught in a Jamesian-like dilemma, wedged between the powerful, privileged life led by the Feddens and their friends, whilst also having to face the stark realities of Eighties Britain - the vast unemployment and the rise of AIDS.

The second and third episodes of the series feature Nick's relationship with Wani (Alex Wyndham), a long-lashed Lebanese millionaire playboy. While working as a creative consultant on Wani's new magazine, Ogee - named after the curve that is Hogarth's line of beauty - Nick is introduced to a world of non-stop threesomes, moneyed decadence, and cocaine-fueled days and nights. And of course this all culminates in the beautifully recreated coke-fuelled dance with "The Lady" herself, the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher (Kika Markham).

This BBC adaptation follows Hollinghurst's book pretty much to the letter, although in some instances, the film fails to catch much of the subtleness and nuance of the source material. The scenes involving Nick's sex and coke binges in the toilets and bedrooms of his grand surroundings seem hurriedly cut short, and the pivotal scene of the dreary piano recital fails to capture the tiniest social shenanigans and inherent boredom of all the guests as well as it could.

Also, when the Fedden's take Nick on their holiday to France, the pacing slows a bit, but thankfully picks up speed again in readiness for the final dénouement, the penultimate dance with The Lady. The cast is solid throughout, but Stevens is without a doubt the standout, imbuing Nick with a neediness and an obvious desire to be loved. He speaks his emotions and is in need of reassurance of his place within the Fedden household. He exists in a limbo space of not quite belonging, and in innocence of the dark undertones of the world he has entered.

Amidst the euphoria of first love, champagne and high society parties, the young graduate witnesses political scandal, deception, and the ultimate hypocrisy towards his sexuality, and that of his bretheren. The unsaid mantra is that it doesn't matter what you do, as long as you keep it quiet and do it in private. The Line of Beauty is indeed a richly textured coming-of-age story, and accomplished adaptation of a classic work of literature set against the backdrop of a ruthless decade of change and transformation. Mike Leonard October 06.

Alan Hollinghurst's brilliant novel THE LINE OF BEAUTY has been well adapted for film by Andrew Davies and brought to BBC television by director Saul Dibb and an outstanding cast. That television miniseries is now available on one DVD with each of the three parts intact as seen in the UK (not the parceled version shown in the USA) and it is a satisfying transition from Hollinghurst's visual poetry to cinematic depiction.

The story takes place from 1983 to 1987 in England - the Thatcher years - when class differences, hypocrisies, paparazzi, and homophobia were peaking. Essentially the tour guide through this time is one Nicholas Guest (Dan Stephens), a 'middle class' son of an antiques dealer who has just finished Oxford (on scholarship) and visits the home of his wealthy roommate Toby Fedden (Oliver Coleman) whose father Gerald (Tim McInnerny) is climbing the steps of politics as his warmly understanding and supportive wife Rachel (Alice Krige) looks on and worries about their knotty daughter Cat (Hayley Atwill) who loathes politics and sees the hypocrisy spoken by all of her father's associates. Nick is welcomed into the family with genuine warmth and he is smitten by the grandeur of their lifestyle and the beauty of their home: he becomes their surrogate son when Toby leaves for adventures with his shallow sweetheart, taking care of at times self-mutilating Cat.

Nicholas is gay, finds love with a lower class handsome black man Leo (Don Gilet), and shares his proclivities with Cat, his confidant. Insidiously Nick becomes a full part of the Fedden family, serving as a son would, entertaining at parties with them, and meeting the important people whom Gerald engages in his political pyramid. Among them is a Lebanese family whose wealthy son Wani Ouradi (Alex Wyndham) catches Nick's eye and though Wani is 'engaged' to a girl he also is a severely closeted gay man and Nick and Wani become entwined in drugs and love. When the spectre of AIDS begins to diminish the population of England some secrets are revealed, secrets of sexual liaisons that are intolerable for the Feddens and their associates yet lead to the hypocrisy of affairs within Gerald Fedden's protected world. It is the surfacing of the true lives of the characters that proves to be the downfall of Nicholas and his relationship to the world of wealth as well as the crumbling of the fragile political, media-infested world of Gerald Fedden's creation.

The cast is uniformly excellent and Dibb is able to coax the acrid aura of England of the 1980s with lucidity and a sensitive eye for revealing corruption and fractured human relationships. If the viewer is left with the feeling that Nicholas does not really deserve our concern because of his hollow devotion to wealth as a means to happiness then the point of Hollinghurst's novel has been well served. The film is not without flaws (a pianist at one of the soirees, we are told by supertitles, is paying Grieg's Piano Concerto....when that could not be further from reality!), and insufficient time is given to the Nick/Wani and Nick/Leo relationships to allow us into the inner sanctum of gay life in this tough time, etc., it still is an engrossing drama and one very well played by credible actors. Grady Harp, January 07

This is a great 3 parter first shown in Britain in April 2006. An adaptation of the fantastic novel The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst, the television drama stays very faithful to the book. It really encapsulates what it was to live in Britain in the 1980s, albeit a fairly rich circle. Dan Stevens does an amazing job in his portrayal of Nick Guest. This DVD is not to be misssed.

This three-part, three-hour drama, based on Alan Hollinghurst's novel of the same name, has much going for it. Taking place in 3 episodes in 1983, 1986, and 1987; many themes are explored with sensitivity and insight. However, I would like to focus this review on just one aspect of the film, which is the price of privilege.

Middle-class Nick Guest (played well by handsome Dan Stevens) is attracted to his best friend Toby Fedden (played by Oliver Coleman). When they graduate from Oxford, Nick comes to visit Toby in the Fedden's beautiful grand home in West London. Soon his gracious personality and wit and handsome appearance win over the entire family, especially daughter Catherine Fedden, a self-mutilator. Gerald the father (played to perfection by Tim McInnerny) and Rachael the mother (played by Alice Krige) run off the France leaving Nick to care for the house and for Catherine (nicknamed Cat). Dissonance immediately begins since the Feddens seem much to smart, sensitive, and informed to run off to France and leave a mentally ill daughter with a virtual stranger. Catherine and Nick soon however become best of friends since Catherine is fascinated with the fact that he is gay and she seeks non-sexual intimacy with him. She also specializes in penetrating hypocrisy, almost as if hypocrisy was unbearable to her. This is a trait that makes her a social and political liability for her parents. This is also the trait that drives the multiple tragedies of this story.

What kind of fellow is Nick? He lives in fabulous surroundings in a home where the father is a conservative member of parliament yet, as his name implies, he is a guest in this rare world of privilege and he done not yet know its price or the price others pay. Nick is a student of Henry James and wishes to go to graduate school to study James. However in the meantime he begins to explore his sexuality and soon begins an affair with a handsome Jamaican man, Leo, played by Dan Gilet. This allows for more exploration of conservative hostility toward persons of color which is contrasted with Nick's erotic attraction to warm sweet Leo. But as the story progresses, Nick goes through the maturing steps of a broken heart and then eventually becomes lovers with a multimillionaire Lebanese, Wani Ouradi, who supports Nick in a world of multiple partner sexual adventures, cocaine drug orgies, and the development of an indulgent arts magazine that appeals to the ultra-sophisticated rich. Wani is played by Alex Wyndham who maintains the erotic mysterious decadent stereotype of the gay exotic.

All of this splendor begins to crumble with the rising political success of Gerald Fedden, which requires him to associate with wealthy bigots and prejudicial hate-monger ideologues that direct the policies of the conservative party. It is daughter Cat who pulls the world down around the other characters by exposing all the hypocrisy and hidden scandal that supports the privileged life that she and her family enjoy. However her desire to reveal all hypocrisy also bleeds into the life of Nick and his lover Wani, who is dying of AIDS. Wani does stretch toward honesty and authenticity as he begins to die, offering to leave Nick the building in which they manage their arts magazine.

Having sex with men while implying to the world that you are straight may protect privilege but it makes a man vulnerable. Thus when we see Gerald fall from his political perch due to financial and sexual scandals, we also see Wani fall as he deteriorates physically from the effects of HIV. Nick looks at the first edition of their magazine Ogee and the impression is that the wealthy, privilege, glamour, and luxury is at best an illusion, and more likely a diversion from authenticity.

Nick becomes the scapegoat for the scandals that plague the Fedden home, even though his gayness was surely one of the least scandals the Fedden's faced. Yet the viewer is left with the impression that the scapegoat role allows him to make an emotional break from the Feddens and maybe one day this young man's painful experiences will afford him authenticity. The film is oddly optimistic in the end since Nick may be in both pain and grief and must start his life over, but the viewer is never in doubt that the painful lessons will be integrated into this bright sensitive young man so that the final product is stronger and more self directed.

Well made, beautifully acted, clearly formatted and edited, the film is very good and is highly recommended.

The movie followed the book almost to the letter, which is usually hard to find. Our focus is on Nick Guest, a young gay Oxford graduate who moves in with his classmates parents in a grand house. The family he's moved in with are very influential and affluent. Nick comes from a lower class and the snobery comes out eventually. The political and social environment of the era is explored through Nick's interactions with the gay men he meets and the family he lives with. Definitely worth your time.

I loved the book, and this adaption does a fine job of bringing it to life. Remarkably, they take a very dense story and condense it into 3 hours-a few things suffer, but overall, it's fantastic. It really captures the tone, and more importantly, the time (it takes place in the 1980's).
I watched it first on LOGO-which was maddening, they chopped it up and put commercials in at the most inappropriate times. It's much more enjoyable on DVD. And for $14.99 definitely worth the money.

This 3 hour, 3 part series is a fantastic adaptation of Alan Hollinghurst's prize-winnging novel. The acting is superb and the plot will keep you glued to the TV! Beautifully filmed and highly enjoyable.

Based on Alan Hollinghurst's novel by the same name that won the 2004 Booker Prize, this film, a BBC miniseries, does not stray much from the original story and complements it. Nick Guest, who is aptly named, (Dan Stevens) moves, at the urging of his straight friend from Oxford, Toby, into the lush Nottingham home of Toby's family consisting of Gerald Fedden (Tim McInnerny), a Tory MP in Margaret Thatcher's government; his crazed daughter Catherine; and his wife. The action takes place in 1983, 1986 and 1987. Nick meets and falls for Leo (Dan Gilet) early in the first part. Leo has disappeared in the second hour, and Nick, a Henry James scholar, has pretty much given up James for the exotic Lebanese Wani Duradi who introduces him to coke (the line of beauty) and decadent sexual encounters. Both Fedden and Nick's worlds come crashing down ("The End of the Street") in 1987.

The film is about class and corruption. While Nick certainly has his flaws, he redeems himself, at least in part, by accepting the consequences of his actions. Catherine, a strange young woman, is the moral center of the film.

One question I had about both the film and the book: while I am not a close student of the life of Margaret Thatcher, I cannot see her shaking it up and dancing with the coked-out Nick at a party. She certainly would have been one of those celebrities who would have refused to jump for the photographer Philippe Halsman.

A film well worth watching more than once.

This movie was a gentle- though cynical tale of life in Thatcher's England. A young gay man ends up living with his friend's family, who are upper class and politically conservative. Most of the episodes are spent ambling through some interesting observations of the double life the main character leads- on the one hand being the people pleasing toady of the family and on the other a gay man exploring sex, drugs and the AIDS phenomenon of the 80's.
The best scene is where our hero asks Madam Thatcher [referred to as The Lady] to dance at a party and she accepts. From there on it is all down hill. The ending is really sad and gloomy, but if that doesn't bother you, it is worth a look.

The editorial by Tim Dalton on this page, and the other most helpful reviews for "The Line of Beauty", are so accurate and complete that there is little left to say other than, "ditto", without being repetitive.

This is a superb BBC series set in Margaret ("The Lady") Thatcher's 1986-87 England amidst upper crust British political nobility and mega-rich society, and a background of decadence.

The characters are so real that watching this movie often feels like one is peeping from behind the curtains into private lives. Worth watching.