A Handful of Dust (film)

A Handful of Dust is a 1988 British film directed by Charles Sturridge, based on the 1934 novel of the same name by Evelyn Waugh. It stars James Wilby and Kristin Scott Thomas. Originally conceived as a television project, it was the first feature film financed by London Weekend Television.

It was nominated at the 61st Academy Awards for Best Costume (Jane Robinson), losing to Dangerous Liaisons. Judi Dench won the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Plot
For English country gentleman, Tony Last, his ancestral home, Hetton Abbey, is his life. He is blissfully happy with his quiet existence there, and oblivious to the discontent of his wife Brenda. Brenda begins an affair with social climber John Beaver. Tony is oblivious. Brenda even manages to persuade him to rent a flat in London, unaware she uses it as a love nest with Beaver.

When the Lasts' eight-year-old son, John Andrew, is killed in a riding accident, Brenda informs Tony of her affair. She requests a divorce so she can marry Beaver. Tony is shattered, but initially agrees, offering to provide her with £500 a year. He spends an awkward weekend with a woman hired to provide fake divorce evidence. But Beaver and his grasping mother press Brenda to demand £2,000 per year. This amount would require Tony to sell Hetton. Fortunately, since the hired woman had taken her child to the weekend with her, he is able to prove adultery did not take place, and withdraws the divorce. He announces that he intends to travel for six months. On his return, Tony says, Brenda may have her divorce but without any financial support.

Without the settlement, Beaver loses interest in Brenda. She is reduced to poverty and Beaver leaves with his mother for California. Tony joins an explorer on an expedition in search of a supposed lost city in the Brazilian forest. The expedition fails and Tony is the last survivor. He is rescued by Mr. Todd, a settler who rules over a small community in an inaccessible part of the jungle. The illiterate Mr. Todd has a collection of the novels of Charles Dickens, which Tony reads to him. When Mr. Todd continues to demur in helping Tony return to civilization, Tony realises he is being held against his will. A search party finally reaches the settlement, but Todd has arranged for Tony to be drugged and hidden; he tells the party that Tony has died and gives them his watch to take home. When Tony awakes he learns that his hopes of rescue have gone and that he is condemned to read Dickens to his captor indefinitely. Back in England, Tony's death is accepted; Hetton passes to his cousins who erect a memorial to his memory, while Brenda resolves her situation by marrying Tony's friend Jock Grant-Menzies.

Critical response
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars and observed, "This is a peculiar movie, but a provocative one. The performances imply more than the dialogue explains, and there are passages where we cannot quite believe how monstrously the characters are behaving... "A Handful of Dust" has more cruelty in it than a dozen violent Hollywood thrillers, and it is all expressed so quietly, almost politely."

Vincent Canby of The New York Times praised Anjelica Huston's portrayal of Mrs Rattery as the "single most stunning performance" but called the film "both too literal and devoid of real point."

Box Office
The film grossed £608,594 in the United Kingdom and $1,560,700 in the United States and Canada.