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A Handful of Dust from 1988 with Kristin Scott Thomas, James Wilby, Rupert Graves, Alec Guinness and Judi Dench
This visually appealing adaptation of the Evelyn Waugh novel A Handful of Dust is like an episode of Downton Abbey without the slickness. This more-sedate approach is fine, but unfortunately, the movie still falls short of capturing the nuance and insights of Waugh's novel.
Once you accept that it's not going to live up to the book or zing along like Downton, it's an enjoyable trip to the upper-class world of 1930s England – a world of country estates, fox hunts, London flats, private clubs, and bed-hopping by bored married people.
Kristin Scott Thomas plays one of those bored married people whose bed-hopping wrecks what should have been a happy marriage and family. Her husband, played by James Wilby, is a kind man – their life on a country estate, with their young boy, seems quite nice.
Wilby loves the estate, which absorbs most of their substantial income to maintain, but he's content just being there. Scott Thomas, though, is bored, which has her eyeing London society and a young handsome bounder of a man, played by Rupert Graves.
The estate itself centers the picture by serving as a symbol of an "Old England" which is too expensive to maintain, like the Empire itself would soon become. For many, though, like Wilby, it is hard to give it up, as they don't want to let the England of Shakespeare and Camelot go.
In this vein, Scott Thomas' quest for freedom from the estate is really asking for a different kind of marriage, which she will make for herself when Wilby won't give it to her. Unfortunately, she does a shabby job of it, not unlike the way England would eventually give up her Empire.
Back in the narrative, Scott Thomas, pretty in a thin, wan way, drives the affair as younger Graves is a bit naive, but Scott Thomas knows what she wants. For modern audiences, part of the fun is seeing how there is an "acceptable" way these things are done in England's upper class.
In 1930s England, "class consciousness" is everywhere, as even the servants have their hierarchies, which they guard as passionately as the upper classes guard theirs. Thus, the family's nanny demands to receive the appropriate amount of "respect" from the estate's groom.
All of this – all the proper respect, public face, presenting of cards, deference, etc. – works until it doesn't. Here, a tragic event breaks the social wall of silence, which leads to Wilby learning of the affair.
The movie now shifts gears from a story with a pleasant surface but plenty of subterfuge, to Scott Thomas requesting a divorce from a temporarily benumbed Wilby who truly thought he had a good, safe marriage. Things get rough for everyone from here.
Scott Thomas must now try to turn an affair, whose oxygen was its "secrecy" and freshness, into a regular old relationship, with all its mundane issues and pressures – especially now that money isn't freely flowing her way.
Wilby, almost on a whim, joins an expedition planning to go deep into Brazil, where he falls ill, loses his guide, and winds up "saved" by a quirky German, played by Alec Guinness, who lives permanently in the rainforest. Guiness' role here is a small but pivotal one.
As always, Guinness somehow managed to play Alec Guinness, but also creates a notable character you'll remember. He's like a quirky version of Cary Grant. In this one, Guinness brings the story to a truly surprising conclusion.
There is, though unfortunately, a lot of nuance in the book regarding events, including the affair, the divorce, how the estate runs, and how Graves lets Thomas manipulate him for his advantage, that isn't fully captured on screen owing to the movie's need to cover a lot of ground quickly.
This leaves the movie feeling ordinary, as without those nuanes, it's just another story of decadence and decline in England's upper-classes, which was already on its last legs by the 1930s anyway. That is a story that's been told countless times in other books and movies.
It is beautifully filmed with lovely period details, but the effort, overall, comes across as a bit bland. The acting is professional – look for Judi Dench playing Grave's shrewd but irritating mother – but nobody other than Guinness gives a memorable performance.
A Handful of Dust is not Waugh's best novel (comments on the book here: #9,231 ), but it is a fun read full of humor and insightful digs at the ridiculousness of society and class structure in 1930s England. On-screen, however, much of that is lost, leaving it just another pretty movie about England's decline.
It is, though, an elegant period piece that provides a look at the faded glory of the Empire, as we see a new generation buffeted by winds of change it cannot stop or control. Flaws and all, the movie is a small, imperfect window into a pivotal moment in twentieth century history.
