[Minor spoilers ahead-nothing that hasn't appeared in most media reviews.]
Rare it is that I will put down my tub of obscenely overpriced popcorn to reach out with my arms and attempt to embrace a celluloid character but that was my impulse (controlled, of course) while watching marvelous Annette Bening in "Being Julia" bring a scintillating star of London's West End stage to vivacious life.
Ronald Harwood adapted the original novel by W. Somerset Maugham for Istvan Szabo's film about a slowly aging but still vital doyenne of the dramatic stage who confronts the challenges of mid-life loneliness and the first realization that others await in the wings to replace her.
The time: London in the late Thirties when the lights all over Europe that would soon go out still blazed brightly, especially for the leisure class and those who catered to their needs. Annette Bening is Julia Lambert, an actress in continuous acclaim, a woman whose name emblazoned on the brightly lit marquee insures sell-out audiences whatever the deficiencies of the play. Only in the England that glittered shortly before the war could an actress confidently proclaim that the stage offered the sole opportunity for true acting - the silver screen was for others. Julia's self-confidence is as remarkable as her estimation of the true reality of her profession is wrong. But she has the dubious benefit of a revered first coach's spectral presence, a well-integrated story line.
Lambert is in an affectionately cooperative marriage with actor/manager/money raiser Michael Gosselyn, played by Jeremy Irons who provides just the right dollop of frustrated husband and stern business manager. Yes, Irons can be funny in a very understated, very English manner. This is an amiable couple tied together by their profession and their joint love for their teenage son and some memories. And that's it.
A young American, Tom Fennel (Shaun Evans), appears in the West End seeking work in the theater and Gosselyn obliges. An intense affair develops between the much older actress and the callow Yank on the make (meaning the stereotypical view of Americans often presented as unquestionable reality in so many British flicks). That Julia is so primed for a seduction that requires the barest minimum of effort reflects her growing fear of becoming older. Or old.
Tom is a cad and he plays on Julia's need for adoration and in-the-sack fulfillment. Inhabiting an open marriage with a man she really loves but who furnishes only the memory of earlier connubial excitement, Julia is alternately coyly strong and painfully vulnerable. Just Tom's cuppa.
A young rival also bedded by Tom seeks to find her footing before the bright lights. How Julia accommodates this pesky and obnoxious young twerp's plan to upstage and perhaps supplant the older idol of theatergoers is simply wonderful. It's "All About Eve" with a much wilier veteran actress who knows how to deal with self-worshiping ingenues. The denouement of this escapade is hilarious.
Several other supporting cast members add life and sparkle to the drama cum comedy (or is it the other way around?). Juliet Stevenson shines as Julia's dresser/aide-de-camp/guardian/friend, Evie. A dependable and loving friend but disinclined by nature to assume the duties of a lover, Lord Charles is a nice portrait of a middle-aged aristocrat and he's sympathetically portrayed by Bruce Greenwood.
And Rita Tushingham is very good in a brief appearance as Aunt Carrie and I defy anyone who remembers her from way-back-when to recognize her now. The fates have stolen her beauty, the caterers have augmented her figure.
Director Istvan Szabo, with a crew that is decidedly non-English, did wonders bringing this brisk novel to the screen. I suspect he had little to do to allow Annette Bening to blossom in and command the lead role. I've always enjoyed her acting but "Being Julia" is a quantum leap in accomplishment.
The cinematography is excellent and pre-war, tragically soon to be Blitzed, London is a nostalgic delight.
9/10
Rare it is that I will put down my tub of obscenely overpriced popcorn to reach out with my arms and attempt to embrace a celluloid character but that was my impulse (controlled, of course) while watching marvelous Annette Bening in "Being Julia" bring a scintillating star of London's West End stage to vivacious life.
Ronald Harwood adapted the original novel by W. Somerset Maugham for Istvan Szabo's film about a slowly aging but still vital doyenne of the dramatic stage who confronts the challenges of mid-life loneliness and the first realization that others await in the wings to replace her.
The time: London in the late Thirties when the lights all over Europe that would soon go out still blazed brightly, especially for the leisure class and those who catered to their needs. Annette Bening is Julia Lambert, an actress in continuous acclaim, a woman whose name emblazoned on the brightly lit marquee insures sell-out audiences whatever the deficiencies of the play. Only in the England that glittered shortly before the war could an actress confidently proclaim that the stage offered the sole opportunity for true acting - the silver screen was for others. Julia's self-confidence is as remarkable as her estimation of the true reality of her profession is wrong. But she has the dubious benefit of a revered first coach's spectral presence, a well-integrated story line.
Lambert is in an affectionately cooperative marriage with actor/manager/money raiser Michael Gosselyn, played by Jeremy Irons who provides just the right dollop of frustrated husband and stern business manager. Yes, Irons can be funny in a very understated, very English manner. This is an amiable couple tied together by their profession and their joint love for their teenage son and some memories. And that's it.
A young American, Tom Fennel (Shaun Evans), appears in the West End seeking work in the theater and Gosselyn obliges. An intense affair develops between the much older actress and the callow Yank on the make (meaning the stereotypical view of Americans often presented as unquestionable reality in so many British flicks). That Julia is so primed for a seduction that requires the barest minimum of effort reflects her growing fear of becoming older. Or old.
Tom is a cad and he plays on Julia's need for adoration and in-the-sack fulfillment. Inhabiting an open marriage with a man she really loves but who furnishes only the memory of earlier connubial excitement, Julia is alternately coyly strong and painfully vulnerable. Just Tom's cuppa.
A young rival also bedded by Tom seeks to find her footing before the bright lights. How Julia accommodates this pesky and obnoxious young twerp's plan to upstage and perhaps supplant the older idol of theatergoers is simply wonderful. It's "All About Eve" with a much wilier veteran actress who knows how to deal with self-worshiping ingenues. The denouement of this escapade is hilarious.
Several other supporting cast members add life and sparkle to the drama cum comedy (or is it the other way around?). Juliet Stevenson shines as Julia's dresser/aide-de-camp/guardian/friend, Evie. A dependable and loving friend but disinclined by nature to assume the duties of a lover, Lord Charles is a nice portrait of a middle-aged aristocrat and he's sympathetically portrayed by Bruce Greenwood.
And Rita Tushingham is very good in a brief appearance as Aunt Carrie and I defy anyone who remembers her from way-back-when to recognize her now. The fates have stolen her beauty, the caterers have augmented her figure.
Director Istvan Szabo, with a crew that is decidedly non-English, did wonders bringing this brisk novel to the screen. I suspect he had little to do to allow Annette Bening to blossom in and command the lead role. I've always enjoyed her acting but "Being Julia" is a quantum leap in accomplishment.
The cinematography is excellent and pre-war, tragically soon to be Blitzed, London is a nostalgic delight.
9/10