Recently Seen: Being Julia
Set in pre-war London, this movie enacts the tale of Julia Lambert (Annette Benning), a great actress approaching a difficult age. She is surrounded by an entourage of characters including her husband and manager (Jeremy Irons), the ghost of her her mentor (the great Michael Gambon), dresser (Juliet Stevenson), gay admirer (Bruce Greenwood) and patron-business partner (Miriam Margoyles). They are both enablers and detractors of her neediness, her ego and her melodramatic sense of self. She is acting every minute of her life, but as her son points out, she isn't just playing one character. She does not always know herself what "being" Julia means.
The movie has two distinct parts. In the first, Julia begins an affair with a young American, Tom (Shaun Evans). Playing yet another part, she convinces herself that she is in love with him and her inner glow enhances her stage performances. She supports him financially and brings him to her family's summer home, where she watches him as he favours the company of young people his age, including her son. He eventually strays to a young promising actress, Avice Crichton (Lucy Punch) and ends their affair.
In the second part of the movie, Tom convinces Julia to help Avice obtain a supporting part in a new play that Julia will star in. Avice gets the part and it is revealed to Julia that Avice is dallying with her husband, who is directing the play. Even before the play opens, Avice is much lauded and London is abuzz about this new star. We get into All About Eve territory, as Julia fights to keep her turf as London's pre-eminent actress. This culminates with Julia hijacking Avice's big scene on opening night, wearing an unplanned eye-catching gown, ad-libbing her lines, throwing counter-punches as Avice attempts to engineer the scene back to her own advantage. Julia emerges the undoubted star of the play as her entire entourage watches in admiration.
This movie is a slight, frothy affair. It is a comedy which is charming rather than amusing. There really is not much of a coherent plot and other than Julia, none of the characters are sufficiently developed enough for us to care about. The first part of the movie drags and the pace is generally just too leisurely. On the plus side, it has pretty period London scenes and a tuneful soundtrack of songs from the era.
This movie would be completely inconsequential if not for a great central performance by Annette Benning. She is tremendous in this role, dominating the screen every time she is on it. You find yourself becoming very fond of Julia despite her egoism and her ocassional bitchiness, because Benning infuses her portrayal with an always present humanity and compassion. Even when Julia is being difficult, Benning makes you care and remember Julia's generosity of spirit. Her playing of the ad-libbed opening night scene is masterful in the steeliness of her resolve and the mischief that steals through in the twinkle in her eyes. This is a great actress playing a great actress.
Movie rating : 5 out of 10 (discounting Annette Benning); 6.5 out of 10 (accounting for Annette Benning)
The movie has two distinct parts. In the first, Julia begins an affair with a young American, Tom (Shaun Evans). Playing yet another part, she convinces herself that she is in love with him and her inner glow enhances her stage performances. She supports him financially and brings him to her family's summer home, where she watches him as he favours the company of young people his age, including her son. He eventually strays to a young promising actress, Avice Crichton (Lucy Punch) and ends their affair.
In the second part of the movie, Tom convinces Julia to help Avice obtain a supporting part in a new play that Julia will star in. Avice gets the part and it is revealed to Julia that Avice is dallying with her husband, who is directing the play. Even before the play opens, Avice is much lauded and London is abuzz about this new star. We get into All About Eve territory, as Julia fights to keep her turf as London's pre-eminent actress. This culminates with Julia hijacking Avice's big scene on opening night, wearing an unplanned eye-catching gown, ad-libbing her lines, throwing counter-punches as Avice attempts to engineer the scene back to her own advantage. Julia emerges the undoubted star of the play as her entire entourage watches in admiration.
This movie is a slight, frothy affair. It is a comedy which is charming rather than amusing. There really is not much of a coherent plot and other than Julia, none of the characters are sufficiently developed enough for us to care about. The first part of the movie drags and the pace is generally just too leisurely. On the plus side, it has pretty period London scenes and a tuneful soundtrack of songs from the era.
This movie would be completely inconsequential if not for a great central performance by Annette Benning. She is tremendous in this role, dominating the screen every time she is on it. You find yourself becoming very fond of Julia despite her egoism and her ocassional bitchiness, because Benning infuses her portrayal with an always present humanity and compassion. Even when Julia is being difficult, Benning makes you care and remember Julia's generosity of spirit. Her playing of the ad-libbed opening night scene is masterful in the steeliness of her resolve and the mischief that steals through in the twinkle in her eyes. This is a great actress playing a great actress.
Movie rating : 5 out of 10 (discounting Annette Benning); 6.5 out of 10 (accounting for Annette Benning)
Labels: Movie Reviews
posted by gentleice the deptfordian at 9:50 PM
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