In the role that brought her amazing critical acclaim as well as the National Board of Review's Best Actress Award, Annette Bening plays a beautiful and beguiling actress who finds herself bored with being the toast of the town. Also stars Jeremy Irons and Michael Gambon, directed by Istvab Szabi, DVD special features include commentaries by stars and Director, behind-the-scenes, deleted scenes.
As she enters her early 40s, London theater actress Julia Lambert (Annette Bening) starts having a nervous breakdown. She still rules the West End, but is growing too old for ingenue parts. When Tom Fennell (Shaun Evans), an adoring lad half her age, comes into her life, a clandestine affair begins. Though she's happy for a while, Julia eventually winds up in a face-off with a Tom's other, much younger lover (Lucy Punch). Luckily, the spirit of Julia's cantankerous old acting coach (London theater legend Michael Gambon) follows Julia around offering some tough-love encouragement.
Set in the late 1930s, this is a fine costume comedy-drama about the sorrows and joys of art. The eternal question of "when am I acting and when am I myself?" has seldom been addressed as intelligently as it is here; Bening seems to be not only tangling with her own status as an aging beauty, but also with the limits of her own acting abilities, and it's a pleasure to see her transcend both with such triumphant exuberance. Bravo, Miss Bening, and kudos to director Szabó (MEPHISTO) for rendering his obvious love of theater, cinema, and actors with such contagious warmth. Other fine performances include Jeremy Irons as Julia's manager/husband and Juliet Stevens as her jaded maid.
THEATRICAL RELEASE: OCTOBER 15, 2004
Being Julia Reviews:
"Of the many gifts that Annette Bening brings to her best roles, the most endearing may be a sense of self-enjoyment....This quality shines through every one of her scenes in BEING JULIA."Wall Street Journal
"Ms. Bening shows both fragility and dignity, managing a hectic plot with glamour and aplomb."-- A. O. Scott, New York Times
"Bening and a lustrous ensemble cast have brought to vivid life W. Somerset Maugham's 1937 novella THEATRE....They have done so with such verve and panache that this film can never be described as merely a romp or a star vehicle."-- Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
"[I]t has enough surprises to keep you guessing, and for Annette Bening it's the liveliest of comebacks."
-- Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
"It is an expert performance from Bening, combining coquetry, lust, anger, sarcasm, vulnerability and hauteur..."
-- Geoffrey Macnab, Sight and Sound
"BEING JULIA finds old-fashioned fun in a 1937 W. Somerset Maugham novella..."
-- Stephen Farber, Movieline's Hollywood Life
Customer Being Julia Reviews Customer Being Julia DVD Reviews
Average Rating: (3.7 out of 5 stars)
A Triumph for Annette Bening Debra from Napa Valley couldn't be more wrong about this film. Ms Bening is a true star, and this film is as satisfying as it is (and it is VERY satisfying)because of her performance. She lights up the screen and conveys with every word and gesture the star quality her character embodies. She can ACT. Submitted by Bill - wm011f4171 (Edinburgh - Scotland) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo
Bening ovrreaches in star vehicle What a disappointment. An "All About Eve"-type story, this movie convinced me that Annette Bening should stick to character roles. Like Alec Baldwin, she looks so good in smaller parts, but cannot carry a picture. She must be a very well-liked woman in Hollywood, judging by the gah-gah reviews she garnered for this film, but I found her performance distractingly hammy, and just not believable. Jeremy Irons is excellent, as are other members of the under-used supporting cast. But there's really not room for anyone else in this vanity vehicle. Submitted by Debra (Napa, CA) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo
Bening ovrreaches in star vehicle What a disappointment. An "All About Eve"-type story, this movie convinced me that Annette Bening should stick to character roles. Like Alec Baldwin, she looks so good in smaller parts, but cannot carry a picture. She must be a very well-liked woman in Hollywood, judging by the gah-gah reviews she garnered for this film, but I found her performance distractly hammy, and just not believable. Jeremy Irons is excellent, as are other members of the under-used supporting cast. But there's really not room for anyone else in this vanity vehicle. Submitted by Debra (Napa, CA) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo
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Being Julia DVD
Being Julia DVD Features
Region [unknown] Keep Case Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.85 Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 - English Subtitles - English - Closed Captioning Additional Release Material: Deleted Scenes Behind the Scenes: Featurette Audio Commentary: István Szabó - Director, Annette Bening, Jeremy Irons - Stars Trailers: Sony Pictures Previews
Closer DVD (2004) Closed Captioned; Widescreen; Soundtrack English; Soundtrack French; English Subtitles; French Subtitles; Dolby Digital 5.1 Re; DTS Sound
A Triumph for Annette Bening
Bening ovrreaches in star vehicle
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