Being Julia (5/10)

Get Serious would be a better title for this movie. We are supposed to believe that a 40ish London diva circa 1938, acclaimed by all, could be easily seduced by a fuzzy-cheeked American hustler, Tom Fennel (Shaun Evans), fall madly in love with him, and that she could have a lifelong “affair” with another man yet not know he’s homosexual. These are just two of the flimsy premises upon which this film (derived from a Somerset Maugham novella, Theatre) is based. Maugham was trying to give his audience an inside look at the workings of the theater. There are lines meant to be humorous based on that throughout the film.

And it’s a pity, really, because Annette Bening, who plays Julia Lambert, gives a tour de force. She is every inch the pampered star. Which is what makes her infatuation with the juvenile Tom all the more incredible. Julia’s entire life is acting. She uses the same lines in conversations with different people. One never knows if her emotions are real or just part of her act. Making her affair with Tom even more inexplicable, there is absolutely no chemistry between the two. Whether this is bad acting or just something that is either there or it isn’t, I’m not sure. Of what I am certain is that the relationship is beyond belief.

Counterbalancing Evans’ unconvincing performance is Juliet Stevenson, who plays Julia’s dresser/confidante, Evie. She makes every scene in which she appears come alive.

Julia and her husband, Michael Gosselyn (Jeremy Irons) apparently have an understanding, so he’s not upset that she’s gallivanting around town with other men. But when he is apparently scoring an ingénue, Avice Chrichton (Lucy Punch), who is also making Tom happy between the sheets, Julia isn’t as understanding as her husband, and sets about getting revenge.

Unfortunately, you could probably read Maugham’s novella in less time that in takes to get through this film. Except for the final 15 minutes you wonder why you’re sitting there watching it. When Julia decides to get her revenge the pace picks up and the film ends on a high point. I’m not sure it’s worth sitting around.

Another problem was the attendees at my screening. I saw this at the Sony lot. Generally when you see a screening on a studio lot everyone else in the screening room are media, so it’s a fairly professional atmosphere. At my screening, however, the room was populated by some guffawing imbeciles who laughed uproariously at lines that just weren’t that funny. It seemed to me that they were laughing to tell everyone else in the audience that they understood the theater and got the joke. The problem is that it was so annoying I’m not sure that it didn’t interfere with my enjoyment of the movie. Maybe it was better than I thought. But my companion at the screening agreed with me that it was long, boring, and the people laughing were fools.

September 10, 2004

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