By Marilyn Powers

Special to The Pilot

The film, "Brideshead Revisited," which has been called "a good, sound example of the British period drama," opens Monday, Oct. 27, at the Sunrise Theater in Southern Pines.

Director Julian Jarrold's adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's 1945 novel about religious commitments and social relations is "plush and passionate and graced with elegant performances," writes The Philadelphia Inquirer critic Carrie Rickey. Many of us remember not only Waugh's original novel, but also the 1980s television miniseries. Castle Howard, the same mansion as in the miniseries, is the setting for many key events in the film.

The story is told by Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode), famous painter and guest on a postwar Atlantic crossing. On board, he meets a former love, Julia Mottram (Hayley Atwell), who was then Lady Julia. The meeting brings back many memories for Charles, and much of the film is a flashback.

Charles had once been a middle-class young man infatuated with the entire family -- their inherited Marchmain title, their wealth, their history, their mansion Brideshead. That he was previously in love with Julia and her brother Sebastian (Ben Whislaw) was a definite complication.

At the center of the story is Lady Marchmain (Emma Thompson), the mother of Julia and Sebastian. Although she displays a certain vagueness about her son's homosexual tendencies, she makes it clear that the problem with her daughter's love for Charles is not his lower social class. It is the fact that he is an atheist, and the Marchmains have always been Roman Catholic. Since Charles will not renounce his atheism, he loses Julia.

"Brideshead Revisited" plays Monday, Oct. 27, through Monday, Nov. 3, at 7:30 p.m. Matinees are on Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. The film is rated PG-13 for some sexual content and runs two hours.

The historic Sunrise Theater is nonprofit, and is located at 250 Broad St. Tickets for adults are $7, $6 for matinees and $5 for children under 12. Movies at the Sunrise are ad-free. Concessions are available.

For more information, call (910) 692-3611 or go to www.sunrisetheater.com.