HETTON ABBEY: A HANDFUL OF DUST (1988) | Kristin Scott-Thomas & Judi Dench | Full Movie HD
Video Overview & Insights
Fans of Downton Abbey and The Remains Of The Day cannot miss this riveting period drama movie, starring Kristin Scott-Thomas, James Wilby, Angelica Huston, Judi Dench, Stephen Fry and Alec Guinness. Based on Evelyn Waugh's timeless novel. Nominated to the Oscars for Best Costume Design.
Awful! He remains a slave!?!?!?😮
The story centers on Tony Last, a man whose soul is inextricably bound to the crumbling Gothic revivalism of his ancestral home, Hetton Abbey. His quiet domesticity is shattered when his wife, Brenda, adrift in the malaise of the landed gentry, embarks on a hollow affair with the vapid social climber John Beaver. Following a devastating family tragedy involving their young son, Tony’s world collapses, leading him on a desperate, ill-fated expedition into the Brazilian jungle that culminates in a surreal, eternal imprisonment. James Wilby provides a haunting portrait of stiff-upper-lip fragility, but it is Kristin Scott Thomas who truly mesmerizes, delivering a breakout performance defined by a chillingly detached cruelty.
Charles Sturridge, having already defined the visual language of the British "Heritage Cinema" movement with the monumental Brideshead Revisited, returned to the caustic world of Evelyn Waugh with his 1988's adaptation of A Handful Of Dust. This film serves as a somber, impeccably dressed rebuttal to the escapist nostalgia often found in the genre, positioning itself as a starkly beautiful yet deeply cynical examination of the British aristocracy's moral erosion between the World Wars. It captures a society in transition, clinging to the physical remnants of the past while its ethical foundations crumble into the eponymous dust.
Did love the beginning middle and not the end. took time to get to the end and the end was bada bing. Thats it, no bada bang!! Don't know how it was left but Tony didn't deserve that.
Released in 1988 with a budget that belies its lush visual richness, the film stands as a masterclass in production design, capturing the transition from Victorian stasis to Art Deco superficiality. Unlike the sweeping romanticism of many contemporary period pieces, Sturridge utilizes a more claustrophobic aesthetic to emphasize the spiritual bankruptcy of his characters. The film’s fidelity to Waugh’s biting irony ensures its place within the sub-genre of satirical tragedy, where the finery of the sets serves only to highlight the vacuum of empathy within the English upper class.
The production is notable for securing the legendary Alec Guinness in a brief but terrifyingly memorable turn as Mr. Todd, the illiterate hermit who forces Tony to read Dickens for eternity—a role Guinness accepted due to his profound respect for the source material. Furthermore, the film features a notable cameo from Angelica Huston as the aviator Mrs. Rattery; she reportedly took the small role because she was a devotee of Waugh’s prose and happened to be in London during the filming, adding a layer of international prestige to the quintessentially British production.
Great movie!❤
A Handful Of Dust (1988)
Genre: Period Drama
Waugh. What an absolute genious.
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I enjoyed this movie, even though I came out hating the wife, not happy about the husbands end.
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Film je tuzan,tragican tj. postoje ljudi koji donose velike nesrece i ja se jezim takvih ljudi.Sto se tice ambijenta i garderobe likova - bozanstveno.
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A masterpiece book written by by Evelyn Waugh and a pure masterpiece adaptation.
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A masterpiece book and movie adaptation.
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Isn’t it great when comments give the story away - NOT
More User Perspectives
We are a rainforest climate so
@Toe-BeeansShe Is Wicked Cheats No Remorse Really For Her Dead Son Then Wants Her Husband To Give Up The House To Her Greed
@OptimisticSatellite-zn1ynPeople ARE Problems You Can NEVER Mix The Social Classes
@OptimisticSatellite-zn1ynWhat a surprising ending for me. How sad!
@marilynzuki6836What a macabre ending. Seems so unfair.
@janetnagel1896They call chasing poor little foxes. I think it's disgusting.
@OneOfUsHereWhat a devastating story!
@saloninegi7062What an awful waste of time an awful film about abject misery
@mickking4834i want to finish watcing this movie, I am a huge fan of Kristin Scott, Judie Dench and I like Anjelica Houston too.
@AndjelaRadovic-pf2geKristin Scott Thomas always has dead animals on her shoulders in these period films. Maybe she's a ghoul.
@dbyers3897Human beings! She has a good man for a husband, a beautiful son, & good food to eat. It bores her & she wants her husband to pay to retain a lover who wanted her money. 😊😊😊😊 I was seeing stars during daytime😊 What does the rejected good husband do? He takes off to explore the world with zero experience😊
@SeepreeAiyerглавный герой может и хороший парень,но без характера и стержня.
такой мягкотелый наследник аристократии, ну сдох где то там в джунглях и хер с ним.
а жена заботилась о себе и правильно делала.
Oh look at a younger Judy Dench .
@SptnmSilly moneyed folk and their tragedies in their gilded cage lol
@miguelfernandes5628KST is basically the British Meryl Streep ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤plus she was on ABFAB❤
@Merylstreep1949Thanks!
@Verónica_20FThe bus that causes the hunting accident was a 1938 Guy that once ran in Llandudno.
@Mike998zvtWe don't know what we have until its Lost.
@saraswatkin9226What a depressing story with false characters galore meanwhile a gorgeous production , love the art Deco style.
@helenbichard8091She really didn't care her son died. Tony Last deserved better. That generation were the good ones. Tradition and decency. Wonder what her background was, normally affairs within the class not the blatantly exploitative cheap beaver, and notmally have 5 children, at least two. Vile selfish woman, beaver too. he could remarry and stlll have an heir. What a terrible end.
@lebedev63Beautiful movie, awful story. What did I just watch? What was the point? I think people who made this movie hates you and wants you to be miserable. They made the movie look good so it would take you a while to realize that you were actually watching a pointless miserable movie whose message is that life is bleak and hopeless and your wife is going to cheat on you anyways so you might as well be the slave of some mad man in the Amazon.
@inlikeflynn7238Well that’s two hours of my life I can never regain!! I seriously cannot understand all the comments raving about this film!! What a woeful and completely unredeemig story!! What is there to possibly like??!! Not even particularly good performances by the lead actors except for Sir Alec Guinness and even his character is abominable!! I truly can’t figure out how anyone would consider this a good movie!! Just because it’s a British film doesn’t mean it’s good!! This one missed the mark by miles!! I will gladly stand alone in saying that I think the movie completely sucked!!
@tobei26Sad story and am only half way thru
@MeredithMindfulness-v9dThis coldness of the English upper class is amazing....
@mdel1129So very sad
@vickyskelton3735What a great job they did at recreating the old Cafe de Paris.
@bonniebluebell5940Very sad, and to for sure, evil is everywere, also in the Amazonas.
@kerstiZweidorffDokkenDoggone it, he deserved retribution!
@DexdogThis movie reminds me of Julian Fellowes “The Snob.”
@DexdogI wish all my life's problems consisted of picking up new gowns and lovers 🙄 Imagine having it all and just trample it into dirt.
@dianadoraen7864Reminds me of Anna Karenina.
@al3816-w5cOscar nomination for costumes was much deserved!
@tarpersonWretchedly depressing film! Not to my taste . . . I suppose I’m missing the point but I cannot watch the end. I would love to see the alternative ending where Tony makes it back to England . . .
@hannnazusWaugh wrote this book after his first wife left him. The book makes a mockery of divorce law in the U.K. at this time. I check the U.K. laws during the 1939’s and yes a husband could cease all support in cases of desertion. Brenda’s moving out to be with Beaver was a legal certainty for cessation of any funds from Tony. It also was a means for Waugh to show his revenge on his first wife’s deceit.
@Mrrossj01It is amazing that English law at this time allowed a husband to disinherit his wife and when she became a widow, she had no claim against the estate. Strange.
@Mrrossj01What an awful movie. I’m sorry to have watched it.
@jennine70The film is well directed, acted, filmed, costumed and set, but leaves one feeling desolate
@marycatherinelunsford9687Too many ad breaks. Stopped watching.
@michelefiorilla9714My goodness, a child dies and everyone is so blasé about it.
@normablake2748What an awful ending. I wouldn't have watched it if I had known.
@christinewilson1538❤ SALVATION DONALD TRUMP WORLD 🌎 PEACE ❤🎉😊
@EdwardCavalucci