Brilliant! The BBC has released a three-part film, DECLINE AND FALL, a brilliant adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s early novel about a poor student forced to get a job at a school populated by violent children and teachers who have long gone crazy.
In our country, Waugh is known, probably, mainly for his monumental "Return to Brideshead", but at the dawn of his foggy youth, he paid tribute to a completely different genre. At the age of 25, he wrote Decline and Destruction, borrowing the title from The Decline and Destruction of the Byzantine Civilization (which he was then heavily influenced by), and the plot partly from his biography. Just a couple of years before that, the young writer was in dire need of money and a year worked in a provincial school, taking out of this experience the hatred of the profession of teacher and the old-age dislike of children.
Funny fact. In Britain, this book is considered a satire on the tastes and customs of high society. But if for the British this is now nothing more than a dull cliché (after all, even Galsworthy predicted a revolution that would sweep the aristocracy off the face of the earth, and now there), but in some incredible way, what he laughed at a hundred years ago is wildly relevant to Russian reality.
It's in the early 20th century. Slightly naive student Paul becomes a victim of a moronic prank of fellow students-members of the elite club of “golden youth”. A scandal breaks out and charges of immoral behavior are brought against students, but no one touches rich offspring, and Paul is made a scapegoat. Expelled for indecent behavior from the university and deprived of the financial support of relatives, he is forced to look for work.
"I can't do anything," he says.
“The best option is to go to the teacher,” they tell him.
There are no less brilliant moments. For example:
Let it be known that all schools are divided into 4 categories: advanced, first-class, excellent and simple schools. The one you work for is just a school.
It's not out of date. So Paul is in a private, but very cheap, disreputable boarding house for boys.
And here's another incredibly relevant scene.
School director instructs in case of fire alarm:
Do not use the fire exit under any circumstances. Even in case of fire! It has not been repaired for a long time and is a threat to life.
However, the school theme occupies only a third of the story. The main character is waiting for incredible adventures: an affair with a lady from high society, whose biography is overshadowed by a terrible secret, an escape from prison and even an imitation of his own death.
In general, Decline and Destruction in format is most similar to a tabloid adventure novel. If you discard the satire, not always read by modern man, the story is filled with humor, for which grotesque, brought to the brink of absurd characters are responsible.
The headmaster is afraid of his own pupils, scoffs at his parents, despises one daughter (a fat girl) and admires another (a man-like bitch). Teachers are, of course, something. A walking anthology of neuroses. One's face is distorted by a tick. Another at recess runs into the teacher's room to pour a glass of whiskey into himself shouting "I hate my life!"
Watching the first series is encouraging. The Air Force doesn't knit brooms. Quality on the face. The surroundings are great and all fans of costume series will be inspired by associations with Father Brown, Grantchester or Downton Abbey.
Actors are delighted.
Starring Jack Whitehall (sitcom "Dolbai Study"). While he may be a bit old for the role of a student, he somehow manages to look authentic. Probably due to the excellent work of makeup artists. True, his signature technique of “watching a stupid calf” plays a cruel joke with the viewer. You expect him to start talking nonsense and grimace.
In the role of the headmaster of the school, the great David Souchet, who with one appearance in the frame proves: other actors next to such a giant simply have nothing to do.
A lady with a dark past is played by a discharged from the States Eva Longoria.
Anyway, there's a lot to see.
Even if you do not like to look for social criticism in films, and humor will not always be to your liking, then it is definitely worth watching for the sake of actors, costumes and landscapes!
7 out of 10