With this introductory note opens the Evelyn Waugh novel Vile Bodies, which had long carried the working title of Bright Young Things and was finally published in 1930. At that time, Waugh called it a "futurist fantasy", that might reflect "the future in a couple of years, when the already present social tendencies will have become more prominent". It is now hard to tell whether Waugh’s work was a self-fulfilling prophecy or a truly visionary work, but fact is, it is now considered as one of the most accurate descriptions of the British 1930s, when, wedged in between two World Wars, the British high society feasted and partied, chased the trivial and the ephemeral as if there was no tomorrow (and in many ways, there was not).

Stephen Fry, author, comedian and actor (best known for his stunning portrayal of Oscar Wilde in Wilde) was asked to adapt the novel for the big screen and subsequently ended up directing it as well. It would be impossible to glean from Bright Young Things that we are looking at the work of a rookie director; it is a work that takes places in a self-contained world that is pitch-perfect. I suppose that having written the script himself (much like that other British writer-director specialised in adaptations of novels, Anthony Minghella) he knows how to recreate a world rich in detail in which the characters move with ease.

Bright Young Things starts at a wild party where we meet Nina Blount (Emily Mortimer), who is asked repeatedly when her on-off boyfriend (depending on his financial state) called Adam -- an aspiring writer -- will be back in town. In fact, Adam (Stephen Campbell Moore) is making his way back to Dover from France when at the British Customs he meets a good friend of Nina’s called Agatha (Fenella Woolgar). She is so much part of the in-crowd of the British high society that her search by Customs becomes something which attracts a horde of journalists and photographers. Soon enough, they are back in London, where the ever on-going party is in full swing, and where Adam has to try to keep his finances afloat in order to marry Nina before someone else might.  

 

The story is of course rather flimsy, but then again, that is the whole point of Waugh’s novel and Fry’s deft adaptation. The protagonists do not have any other goal in life other than being party-animals and much gossiped about spoiled brats. Waugh is most famous for his bitingly ironic sense of humour, and Fry more than does it justice on the big screen. Some of the remarks are really priceless: "I suppose one could get used to love as one does to olives or talking movies" Agatha observer wryly.

 

What is more sad than to have to laugh about the big grand nothingness in the lives of the famous, who are only famous for attending parties, for, with and by other famous people. All the main protagonists are portrayed by actors with next to no experience in film (except for Lovely & Amazing's Emily Mortimer) though as with Fry himself, they seem at perfect ease in their respective roles. Stephen Campbell Moore portrays Adam as the most likeable (though sometimes perhaps a bit too gullible) character of them all, not really rich and actually trying to get by. His calm and composed character is on the side of the audience, which makes our entry into this alien world rather easy. Fenella Woolgar (note how all the real names of the actors could have been invented by Waugh himself) is hilarious as Agatha the blond society queen and Emily Mortimer is pitch-perfect as Nina Blount, daughter of Colonel Blount, portrayed by Peter O’Toole in a small cameo performance that provides the most hilarious sequence in the entire film. Also be on the look-out for small appearances by almost everyone that matters in the British acting world: from Jim Broadbent and Simon Callow to Richard E. Grant and Stephen Fry himself.

 

Since Waugh wrote Vile Bodies as a futuristic fantasy in 1930, the ending of the film (which takes places during the Second World War)  had me completely stunned. During the entire movie, we know that the characters we follow are really doomed, as their celebration of the ephemeral will of course not last. Why Fry has had to go for a "happier" ending for some of the characters despite the war is really a riddle to me. Is there a note of ironic humour in all this that I missed? Except for the ending, Bright Young Things is very Waugh, very Fry, very British and very good.

 

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