Rating: PG
Genre:
Drama
Theatrical Release: 06/24/1988(USA)
Release Date: 11/16/2004
Dubbed: English
Sound: DS
Run Time: 114 Minutes
Flags: Brief Nudity, Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Adult Language
Distributor/Studio: HBO Home Video
Based on a novel by
Evelyn Waugh,
Handful of Dust is set amongst Britain's aristocracy of the 1930s. At sumptuous Hetton Abbey, tradition-bound country squire
James Wilby and his wife
Kristin Scott Thomas open their doors to well-connected but impoverished
Rupert Graves.
Graves returns
Wilby's hospitality by having an affair with
Scott Thomas, while
Wilby gamboles about his estate without a clue of what is going on.
Wilby's cloistered world comes tumbling down when
Scott Thomas coolly demands a divorce, shortly after the accidental death of their young son.
Wilby discovers that his divorce settlement will cost him Hetton Abbey; he faces this circumstance by not facing it at all, preferring to escape to South America, stiff upper lip intact, in the company of a dotty explorer.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide