Bright Young Things is Stephen Fry’s adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s Vile Bodies.
If you hadn’t already realised, I absolutely love Evelyn Waugh’s novels – indeed all his books. It’s a while since I last read Vile Bodies, and needless to say that I’ll be rereading it fairly shortly.
But this is about the film, which has received mixed reviews so far. I’ve got to say that I totally loved it. Yes it’s thoroughly inconsequential, and many of the people are unlikeable if you sit down and think too much about their lives, but it’s all such a riot.
Our hero Adam, begins the film having his new novel confiscated by customs as he returns to Britain. Now he can’t afford to marry his fianc�e Nina (incidentally, why do I always fall in love with fictional characters called Nina?). There are some fabulous other characters including the incredibly camp Archie, the thoroughly mad Agatha and the hilarious Peter O’Toole cameo.
I couldn’t possibly begin to explain all the intricacies of the plot, but it’s not a million miles away from Wodehouse, a TV version of which Stephen Fry famously starred in. And incidentally, Anne Dudley has done the soundtrack (with the Pet Shop Boys according to the IMDB listing). But sadly there doesn’t seem to be a soundtrack available to buy at the moment!