Being Julia (Canada/USA/Hungary/UK) (Sony) (2004) ***1/2Year: 2004iMDB
Director: Istvan Szabo Cast: Annette Bening, Jeremy Irons, Shaun Evans, Miriam Margolyes
Being Julia is entirely about... Julia. Bening gives perhaps one of the best female leading performances of the year as an acclaimed London actress that goes basically through a midlife crisis. As her marriage with theatre producer Michael Gosselyn (Irons) seems to become a pure convenience, Julia finds comfort in a young american (Evans). However, like I already mentioned, Being Julia is not really about the story, as it is about its main character. Julia does get transformed from her superficial, acting as real-life person and finds the peace that she was looking for, even within her own marriage.
Julia's performance at the end of the movie is easily foreseen, but is nevertheless spectacular, thanks to Somerset Maugham's writing, while Bening's interpretation of Julia's performance (getting confused a bit?) is every bit as superb. Julia is a person that likes being in the spotlight at all times, on stage and in real life, and her transformation does not change that. She just re-discovers the pleasure of the spotlight and how being an good actor is a satisfaction beyond what any "mortal" can comprehend, as her mentor once told her.
Posted by TheCasualCritic on January 22, 2005 01:49 AM | TrackBack