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For more movie summaries, see Kam's Kapsules.
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Being Julia: Annette Bening at Her Best in Oscar-Nominated Role As Aging Stage Actress
Review by Kam Williams
Being Julia is a beguiling romantic drama about an aging actress who, at the height of her career, engages in an illicit affair with an admirer who is half her age. The tale of abandonment and betrayal is set in London in the late thirties and stars Annette Bening in the title role. Jeremy Irons co-stars as Michael Gosselyn, her cuckolded husband, and Shaun Evans as Tom Fennel, Julia's ardent American admirer.
Based on Theatre, a 1937 novel by W. Somerset Maugham, the film's screenplay was prepared by Ronald Harwood, who won an Academy Award in 2003 for his adaptation of The Pianist. The Hungarian director Istvan Szabo, also won an Academy Award for the Best Foreign Film in 1982 for Mephisto.
As the film opens, we find Julia resentful of her husband, a workaholic who sees his wife as more of a meal ticket than a mate.
To maximize profits, he's callously booked her into a grueling routine in a play which calls for seven performances a week. As a consequence, Julia finds herself depressed despite rave reviews, standing ovations, and being the toast of town.
Because she feels so empty, alone, and unfulfilled spiritually, the persistent flattery and insistent flirtations of Shaun turn Julia into an irresponsible philanderer. Julia behaves like a shameless party girl, thereby risking her career and marriage.
She impulsively showers Shaun with baubles and money, but her generosity is returned with evidence that he's been two-timing her. In addition, Shaun's other woman, Avice (Lucy Punch), is a beautiful aspiring actress.
The triangle gets even more complicated when Michael invites the ambitious Avice to join him on the casting couch. A couple of compromising positions later, Julia finds herself having to work with this vivacious up-and-comer. A standoff ensues, the tension builds, and Julia adroitly settles the score with Avice on stage.
Bening has won a Golden Globe for her role of Julia. Now, nominated for an Academy Award, she finds herself once again up against Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby), the upset-winner for Boys Don't Cry who spoiled the American Beauty sweep five years ago. Perhaps Bening, like her indomitable character, will get the last laugh this Sunday night.
Very Good (3 stars). Rated R for sexuality. Running time: 108 minutes. Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics.
end of review.
For more movie summaries, see Kam's Kapsules.