BEING JULIA
Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
Sony Pictures Classics
Grade: A
Directed by: Istvan Szabo
Written by: Ronald Harwood, novella "Theatre" by W. Somerset
Maugham
Cast: Annette Bening, Juliet Stevenson, Maury Chaykin,
Shaun Evans, Michael Gambon, Bruce Greenwood, Rosemary
Harris, Jeremy Irons, Miriam Margolyes
Screened at: Sony, NYC, 9/29/04
We moviegoers are all familiar with the snob who regularly
criticizes a given film because "the book was better." This could
well be true in many cases, but with "Being Julia," Istvan Szabo
pulls off that rarity of turning a lesser-know novella by W.
Somerset Maugham called "Theatre" and turning it into a radiant
delight. Boasting a delightful twist at its climactic conclusion,
"Being Julia" appears to prove that the most important person in
a stage production is not the writer, not the director, certainly not
the scenery, but...the actor.
You could probably call "Being Julia" a coming-of-age drama in
that its heroine, Julia Lambert (Annette Bening), though playing
a role of a woman in her forties, has the chance to be reborn.
Though Lambert is renowned as an actress, garnering what in
New York would be a standing ovation for every performance
(Londoners remain in their seats), she is depressed. She
realizes that the good years are behind her and that at any time
in the not-too-distant future, a performer two decades or so
younger is likely to get the romantic roles for which she has
earned a reputation. Her husband doesn't do it for her any
more. She thinks she needs a break from her seven
performances weekly, a vacation which her handsome
husband, theater producer Michael Gosselyn (Jeremy Irons), is
reluctant to provide given the wide audience for the current
show. What she will realize, however, is that she needs a man
who will lift her out of her rut, a much younger guy being all the
better. She finds her September-May consort in the enthusiastic
American Tom Fennel (Shaun Evans).
Julia is not wanting for attention. The toast of London who
receives flowers each night for her stage work, she is
surrounded by patrons of the theater such as Lord Charles
(Bruce Greenwood), a dear friend her own age; Dolly de Vries
(Miriam Margolyes), who helps finance the productions; Evie
(Juliet Stevenson, her dresser); and in several strokes of magic
realism, her first acting teacher, Jimmie Jangston (Michael
Gambon), now dead for fifteen years–which does not stop him
from continuing to coach and advise her both on and off the
stage.
As delightful as the entire production is, there is nothing in the
earlier moments to take the place of the Julia's coup d'theatre
during the concluding moments, when Julia gets her
comeuppance against her straying husband, against her young
lover, Tom, who shows a keener interest in a theater aspirant
his own age (Avice Crichton played by Lucy Punch); and in fact
against the entire society's baseless worship of everything
youthful.
As terrific as the story is, brightly photographed by Lajos Koltai
with period music from the 1930s, "Being Julia" would not have
worked with a lesser actress than Annette Bening. Ms. Bening
is in motion throughout; giggling, crying, pouting, laughing,
playing to the crowd without going over the top–except in the
pungent way she chooses to get even with the flighty men in her
life and the younger woman who, she perceives, will ultimately
take her place. Ms. Bening's is this year's first serious
contender for the Academy Award for Best Actress–that's how
stirring, how magnetic, how joyful her rendition of a woman who
had ceased getting the thrills she was accustomed to from her
enthusiastic SRO audience, regains a sense of proportion with a
carefree fling, gets shuffled out of the romance deck by a
younger woman, and glories in the marvelous revenge she
succeeds so well in getting.
"Being Julia" is a thrilling ode to the theater and most of all to
the talent and hard work of a marvelous performer.
Not Rated. 105 minutes © Harvey Karten
at harveycritic@cs.com
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