Basil
Tags: melodrama, revenge, gothic, romantic, flashback

Plot synopsis:
Basil (Jared Leto) is a young British aristocrat who grew up on the country estate of Windermere Hall. His father, Frederick (Derek Jacobi), is a traditionalist who believes that there are things people of their class should never do. One of those things is romancing the women of lower classes, and Frederick threatens to disinherit Basil as he did Ralph, his elder son, should he also succumb to this temptation.
Whilst on holiday from his studies in Oxford, young Basil happens to meet a commoner named John Mannion (Christian Slater) whom he later befriends, against his father's wishes and behind his back. Through John the young aristocrat meets Julia Sherwin (Claire Forlani), the beautiful daughter of a London merchant. Later, in a rash move shortly before he can inherit, and against the initial council of John, Basil secretly marries Julia. She uses his amorous advances to extract gifts and even his promise that she should own Windermere Hall. By chance, he finds Julia in bed with John, following which Basil viciously attacks him in the street, kicking him repeatedly.
Afterwards, Basil delivers Julia's child, then hears John coming up the stairs. Basil hides, seeing John with a mask covering his face. As Julia tries to lift it, John says, "Remember me as I was, not what I am now". Julia dies in John's arms after confessing the child is his, not Basil's.
All John wants is to take the child and leave. Basil hears this and chases after John with a knife. As they fight, Basil pulls down John's mask, revealing John's mutilated face. John sees the reflection of his face in the blade of the knife, leading him to take his life by jumping off a cliff.
Basil takes the newborn child and escapes to Ireland, naming her Clara, after his childhood friend and orphaned cousin Clara Fairfax. On his return to England over a decade later, whilst walking with his daughter, Basil chances to meets his cousin Clara. She then takes Basil's daughter for hot chocolate, telling him to speak once more to his aged father. Basil's father admits that he disowned both Basil, and Ralph before him, because his son's affairs both reminded him of his own betrayal of his bedridden wife in his youth. Basil's father now regrets his infidelity, professing he loved Basil's mother deeply. Basil and his father reconcile as the film ends.

Review: "Basil" is a film that has all the ingredients of a classic soap opera.
First of all, the film is based on a novel written by Wilkie Collins, one of the most important English writers of the 19o.
Maybe the only negative point is that the plot is too predictable but even though you can still have a good time watching the film..
Jared Leto and Christian Slater both did fine jobs playing Brits and I would recommend this film to anyone..
I love time period films and think "Basil" is a wonderful movie.
Jared Leto was fantastic in this movie.
I love all of his work on the big screen, but I have to say that His portrayal as Basil in my opinion is one of his finest performances.
Jared Leto, Christian Slater, and Clair Forlani are just magnificent in this film.
I congratulate the performances in this movie, and I would love to see more movies like "Basil" on the big screen.
I highly recommend "Basil" to anyone who loves period films.
A wonderful chick flick with 2 sexy men, Jared Leto and Christian Slater.
I love the twist on the movie and the ending.
Nothing's wrong with this movie, the three eye catching main cast were doing fine for the film, but the story itself just lack the passion of becoming a powerful drama.
Too bad.But again I think this is still a better romantic thriller film than most teenage romantic movie you'll find everywhere this day.
This movie is based on Wilkie Collins' (author of Moonstone and Woman int White) little known 2nd novel "Basil".
The story is an unexpected combination of a Victorian Gothic novel with lust, passion, betrayal, revenge and more.
The plot twists are quite startling and some aspects of the story don't make that much sense in a but it's a suspenseful and satisfying yarn to watch on screen.The filming is quite well done with atmospheric locations and sets.
The cast is interesting with Jared Leto and Christian Slater both playing English characters with accents that aren't quite spot on of course.
Half Italian Claire Forlani plays an English lady although she has a slightly Mediterranean look.Instead of watching another adaptation of Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights give this one a chance..
Jared Leto as Basil is a little strained in his acting, but always nice to look at.
C. Slater is surprisingly (and obviously) good in this "historical" role, and he has a secret which provides a twist near the end.
The end itself provides a strange turn that may make you wonder if Basil wouldn't have been happier in a new-age commune in modern New Mexico.
Basically it was a dismal, fragmented movie that lacked flow from short unimpressive scenes that served no purpose but to hold the frail story together.
A twenty-six year old Claire Forlani might be one of the better reasons to give this film a try.
Good, romantic period piece with good acting from both Slater and Leto!.
I thought this movie was a good romantic period piece in the tradition of Dickens.
I enjoyed the performances of Slater and Leto, this being the movie that first brought Jared's acting abilities to my attention.
Well, it wasn't all that bad, but truth to be told, it wasn't that special as well.The actors, not only incredibly gorgious Claire but also Jared Lehto (who is developing into being a very fine mime), know how to do their job and so the lack of originality in the story does not hurt too much.
I'm guessing the people who like this are simply satisfied to stare at Jared Leto for an hour or so, because I can't image anyone likes it for the story.
There is an opening voice over about how the mansion is run down, and it looks like the Production designer had 5 dollars and about 5 minutes to make the mansion look old.To be fair, a lot of what makes this film laughably bad is because of what must've obviously been severe budget constraints, as it had scenes that clearly needed many extras, but only had a few to fill the background.But you can't blame lack of money for bad dialogue, bad acting, and some atrociously bad accent work by Leto and Slater.
It's George Lucas Phantom Menace level of bad dialogue.I'll stop now, because this movie deserves no more of my life or your time spent reading this review.Cheers..
The cast was good, the acting creditable, even the story line had potential but the directing was awful.
Someone took a good story, some great actors and made a really poor movie.
Slater was not particularly inviting, the aristocrat had no personality, had no sexual excitement, was difficult to care who ended up sleeping with anyone since the plot was easily discerned after 20 minutes or so.
Basil hooks up with the grungy Christian Slater, who helps hook him up with the object of his lust, played by Claire Forlani.And it all goes downhill from there.
To talk of the Victorian novel, and any film derived from them, generally imposes the theme of the sociological novel: these works were frequently what might be called a social critique, unbehest by the landed gentry of the times, ignored by the reigning sovereign, much encouraged by the publishing houses, lapped up by the intelligencia of the public at large, but in general lacking the more profound humane sentiments of, say, the Russian novel.
Thus any serious attempt at transposing such works to the screen is bound to bump into all kinds of problems; however, Radha Bharadwaj resolves most of them with a certain degree of panache, such that the end result in this film is more or less acceptable.
But it must be said, Wilkie Collins drove himself to his own despair, and this is clearly shown in his novels, though not so clearly perceived in this film.
But do not compare this film with the recent `The Hours' (q.v.), nor even with `The Portrait of a Lady' (q.v.), Jane Campion's exquisite film based on the novel by Henry James.Notwithstanding (how good that word sounds in Dickens' novels!) the film has its interest; not necessarily because either Christian Slater or Jared Leto have anything special to offer on which to comment, as they are both merely acceptable, nor for Claire Forlani's part, nor for yet another appearance by yet another member of the Bonham-Carter family - in this case Crispin, cousin to Helena.
How much of the film is made in Cornwall or even Yorkshire will have to be guessed.An interesting film for its story-line, with not much real tangible evidence as to the Victorian scene, but which worked hard to transport the book to visual contemplation..
The script suffers from extreme tell-a-life-story-in-two-scenes-itus leaving any tension or drama on the cutting room floor.
Slater and Leto, who can normally make the best of bad writing, appear wooden and passionless.
With so many other excellent period dramas available, it is little wonder this movie ended up in the bargain bin..
But I'll try not to!This is a reasonably interesting film that unfortunately suffers from deviating too wildly from the original plot by the Victorian writer, Wilkie Collins.
To modern audiences this film may seem slow or without much point; a shame, since the Collins novel it is based on is extremely exciting (Collins was an unorthodox writer, considered very shocking by many people of his day - far more explicit re.
violence and sex than say, Dickens).Jared Leto stars as a young and naive aristocrat ('Basil')who suffers from having his friendships and imagination restrained by an overbearing and class-conscious father.
Claire Forlani plays the woman with whom Basil falls in love.
The luminosity, vivaciousness, and little-girl behaviour (which makes Basil love her) that her character has in Collins's book, just isn't there.
The remarkable way in which Basil meets her in the novel is completely missing.
Christian Slater also appears as Mannion, whom Basil befriends, but again the film script has entirely altered how he and Basil meet, and changes many dynamics of their relationship: he becomes Basil's friend, rather than an enigma Basil is intrigued with; not exactly Collins's intention.
The wonderful Derek Jacobi also appears, but again isn't given much great material to work with.
He remains a very important character but his behaviour and personality also differ from in Collins's 'Basil'; some important details are completely changed.
Modern films generally tend to try to intensify the plots of classic novels when they adapt them; this film instead dampens Collins's plot.
The Collins book is considerably more intense: he was one of the best plotters in Victorian fiction, and great at character psychology.
Clearly the intent here was not a faithful adaptation, but I see little reason why the director and screenwriter here didn't keep his major plot points.Those who like this film should perhaps read the book: they will then know a far better version of the story, especially a far more powerful version of Mannion (I thought Slater miscast, or his role basically wrecked).
Basil is meant to be naive and honest, but too often in this film we see him doing or saying things that don't make sense or go too far (again, deviations), yet Leto isn't as intense in his portrayal of Basil as I would like (Basil's mental instability is mostly missing); still, he is easy to like, and certainly remarkable-looking.
The scriptwriting and editing, as other reviewers noted, are not so good, but the film looks beautiful and has good locations and period detail.
Yet another example that just plodding through a novel has little to do with making a tenable film.
That way we know we have something to recall when new information is revealed.Everyone else seems to lack direction.The original story had promise because of the revealing layers and plots.
Jared Leto plays the title role in a film adaption of a novel by Wilkie Collins, not a guy terribly known to today's audiences, but who had a good popularity in his day.
He was a good friend of Charles Dickens and this film Basil is kind of like a dark version of David Copperfield.Derek Jacobi lends his presence to this film as Leto's very proper Victorian gentleman father whose strict standards cause him to lose the affections of both his sons who grow up to be Ralph Bonham Carter and Leto.
As a young kid Leto catches his father en flagrato with another woman so when his beloved and sickly mother dies, Leto is rather inclined to do like Dad does, not like he says.All of which makes him putty in the hands of Christian Slater who has a deep seated hatred for Jacobi and you have to see the film to know what it's about.
He and his girlfriend Clara Forlani set young Leto up good and proper and he becomes the second son to have been cast from his father and Bonham Carter was similarly thrown out.Like David Copperfield we see the protagonist over the years grow from little kid to full adulthood and like Copperfield, Basil gets involved with two women, the second being the one that counts in the person of Rachel Pickup, a young girl taken in by Jacobi and whom he grew up with.
But some truly dark impulses involving sex and infidelity that Dickens would not have explored for a protagonist of one of his novels are present in Basil and in Christian Slater's character of John Mannion.Leto and Slater are present in this British Victorian novel clearly for American box office.
That said, here we go...This movie has some good elements that we can notice right from the start like a good setting for the environments, an interesting narrative style and some feeling of nostalgia that accompanies the scenes.Along with many other mysteries, right from the start, we can foresee that the character of the Basil's father, Frederick, must hide a lot of guilt out of either past errors or sins or both, hidden behind all that overwhelming necessity of control.
Everything else is just the outcome of such character flaws.John Mannion, played expertly by Slater, isn't a bad man.
And thus his destruction.This tale isn't about Basil's life or his feeling or emotion although they do play a small role.
One of the best scenes in history is when John is in bed with Julia and tells her that she must marry Basil.
"If you don't marry Basil you can not have me." HE doesn't appreciate the love, not because he's a bad person or in essence evil but because he is just too focused.
Slater is an under-appreciated acting genius who has given more outstanding performances than anyone else I can think to mention.
Jared Leto and Christian Slater played the principal roles, each superbly.
Playing on their sympathy for having saved Basil from drowning,  Slater's character worms his way into the family and eventually introduces Basil to the woman of Basil's dreams.
Little does Basil know that the woman is already married to Slater's character and he has been duped but good.
Basil, based on the Wilkie Collins novel, has little of the novel in it.
In the novel, John Mannion is a man in his forties who is completely calm at all times and intrigues Basil, as a mystery.
I like the inclusion of Basil's imaginary masked man stories as a child.
In having already exiled Ralph, we see clearly what the father will do if he finds out about the relationship between Basil and Julia.
Basil, being only 20, and still at college, makes it far more believable that he would not suspect those around him of being anything but honest and honorable.
In the book Basil insists that his father is a good man, though blatantly classist, and cold to his children.
In the movie, we know that he is not as good as he wants people to think.Basil's having to do manual labor, and being shocked at the pittance he gets for it is still a social issue and one Collins did not address.
The inclusion of the child shows Basil to be a much more honorable, moral and principled man in the end than his father ever was.
It's an interesting movie, the acting is suited to a Victorian drama, and I enjoyed it very much..
I know it was a melodrama, but between some of the casting and the simplistic story line, I couldn't even enjoy it for that.
Jason Leto delivered a very callow Basil who did not age credibly, and Christian Slater's English accent came and went.
Derek Jacobi did his very best to raise the level of quality acting, but by far Claire Forlani did the best job of putting life into her role.
*Minor Spoilers* Basil, starring Jared Leto and Christian Slater, isn't a movie most film-buffs will recognize.
Even fewer people know that it was an adaptation of a nineteenth century novel by English novelist Wilkie Collins, which – unlike the vast horde of ignoramuses who also never saw the movie – I happen to have read.So if you're wondering whether I'm gonna be that guy, the answer is 'Heck yes', but with a crucial caveat.Most filmmakers, tasked with converting a novel from the 1800's to a film palatable to today's viewers, take the low road.
The end result is at best a somewhat decent movie which shares many similarities to an amazing novel, but with a lot more zing.
If you don't, you end up with the '98 adaptation of Basil: a flat, obtuse take on nuanced literature (whose themes, quite frankly, didn't have a lot to offer your average 21st century moviegoer in the first place).The eponymous hero is played by Jared Leto, of recent (undeserved) acclaim for his minuscule role in the latest Superhero crapfest, Suicide Squad.
The father's shown browbeating any sign of creativity or independence from Basil, culminating when he exiles and disowns Basil's older brother for the crime of loving a woman below his station.The very next scene reveals his hypocrisy and the root of his prejudice: yup, you guessed it, fornicating with one of the serving girls out on the manor grounds.By the time Jared Leto steps into Basil's shoes it's obvious he's on the path to rebellion.
A chance meeting with mysterious John Mannion from London (Christian Slater) kicks Basil's rebellion into full gear.
The forbidden love blossoms over the course of several scenes, delving into a world of intrigue and betrayal which Basil's father wouldn't have approved of even if it was all roses and daisies, which it's anything but.
They Bay-ize some of it, sure, replacing a few of the novel's turning points and climaxes with scenes more likely to appeal to the modern audience who won't settle for anything less than over-the-top.
But it's not as if Bharadwaj butchered the thing; I can't point to any single example so egregious as to claim they've fundamentally, irreparably ruined the story.What Basil lacks is depth and nuance.
Wilkie Collins worked in the realm of literary prose, utilizing a set of authorial tools entirely separate from those in film.
So much of the nuance of character and story is lost when it's compressed into a film of any length, and Bharadwaj's take is continually flat.
The relationship between Basil and John Mannion – despite the underrated Slater's noble attempt to carry the weight of the entire film on his shoulders – ends up looking more like a Buddy Movie or Bromance in the first half of the flick, abandoning novel-Basil's infatuation with a more enigmatic John Mannion.Furthermore, Wilkins was a master of the serial and is often cited as singlehandedly inventing the modern detective story.
There's nothing about any single scene in Basil's adaptation which hooked me or left me on a cliff; it drags ponderously, even for a historical drama.