OK. This movie SUCKED!!! End of review! Move on to another film. Avoid at all costs!
Still here? You really want to know why I thought it sucked? Fine.
This is a true crime story about the murder of Barbara Baekeland, an actress married to the heir to the Bakelite plastics fortune. Julianne Moore (Children of Men) plays the charismatic social climber who is an embarrassment to her husband as they go around the world and raise a son who becomes a homosexual and eventually rejected by his father.
Ever the social climber, Barbara leverages her newfound position to promote her son’s interests, but Tony’s (Eddie Redmayne) nostalgia and angst prove to be their ultimate undoing.
Sadly, while the actors were great and the cinematography was well done, the story just wasn’t compelling. Its based on a true story, but it simply plods along from segment to segment at a very slow pace and the most intriguing elements of the story seem forced and out of context. Maybe another trip to the editing room to add some footage that would make us care about everyone’s decent into madness or shorten the time wasted by everyone so we can concentrate on how well done everything else was. In case you thought I was being unfair, at the packed showing I was at, there was silence as we filed out of the theater afterwards. At SIFF, people usually clap to show appreciation of the filmmakers.
Avoid.
Tags: Baekeland, Julianne Moore, Savage Grace
