Savage Grace (2007)

Julianne Moore, Eddie Redmayne, Stephen Dillane, and Hugh Dancy star in "Savage Grace," a 2007 film directed by Tom Kalin. It is the true story of the Baekland horror show that took place in 1972. Julianne Moore is the beautiful socialite Barbara Baekland, who married into the Bakelite fortune and gave birth to a son, Tony (Redmayne). As the years pass, Brooks Baekland (Dillane) leaves Barbara and takes up with Tony's girlfriend, and Barbara travels, bored wherever she goes. Tony is gay or bisexual, though I don't think in the film he is portrayed as bisexual, and takes up with various lovers. At one point, he is a threesome with his mother and the art dealer Sam Green (Dancy).All of this boredom and unhappiness leads to tragedy in 1972.Since this is a story about the bored rich, it's a difficult one to keep moving, and it doesn't. The film is slow but beautifully photographed, but there is not enough back story to make the characters more accessible to the viewer. We see Barbara as somewhat depraved and capable of horrible temper outbursts. Julianne Moore does a wonderful job, portraying both coldness and sexuality. She is stunning, particularly in an early scene where she wears a purple gown. This may have been the gown Karl Lagerfeld designed for Moore when he learned that she was doing the film.Eddie Redmayne is inspired casting, not only for his acting ability but his resemblance to Moore in his coloring. Baekeland tried to "fix" Tony by hiring prostitutes to have sex with him. When that failed, she apparently tried to have sex with him herself.Antony displayed increasingly signs of schizophrenia with paranoid tendencies; he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. His father initially refused to allow him to be treated by psychiatrists because he thought them "amoral." The deeply-disturbed Tony is a victim of his mother's depravity and wanderlust, and he spends time trying to reunite her with his father to no avail. Her victimization of him leads Tony to suppress his anger, and when it emerges, it's explosive.This movie is not to everyone's taste, but knowing the story, I did like it. But I was always aware it could have been stronger with a better script that didn't hop around so much, omitting parts of the story. It was too choppy.I knew Sam Green personally, and he wasn't bisexual; he was straight. He also never thought Barbara slept with her son, and he said the threesome never took place. At the time of his death, he was suing the filmmakers. His character appears in another film, Factory Girl, due to his friendship and art dealings with Andy Warhol. He also purchased paintings on behalf of John & Yoko and was a close friend of Greta Garbo and Diana Vreeland.All that high society and high living didn't seem to make anyone in the story particularly happy, something stories about the rich always try to tell us. I think this film shows that what gets them is that sometimes, like Barbara, they have little purpose in life. It's the south of France in one season, Palm Beach in another, New York in another, always seeing the same people and always doing the same things - drinking, lying in the sun, having affairs, and gambling. Truthfully it doesn't sound all that bad.

The main theme of this film people lighting cigarettes and smoking them.I find this ugly to watch and not very interesting.I gather there is also another story line but if you want to follow it you have to try and ignore the main topic.The main topic is smoking. I was unable to get past this and follow the other story line.Added to which the acting is diabolically poor.Actors with no class, trying to act in the way in which they think people with class behave.Give it a miss.

The movie based on the true story of Barbara Brooks is one the most disturbing movies I have ever watched.There are scenes after watching which you may say," OMG,is that possible"?But yet, the movie holds your attention till the very end.The experience although not pleasant is not bad.I don't say it is one of those classic ones which it surely could have been, had it not been that raw.Yet it scores.The reason being some fine acting shows especially by Julianne Moore and brilliant camera work, as well as use of color.The bleak storyline,some disturbingly torrid scenes,unusual theme and touch of reality make the movie alive.If you have rented this,I would suggest you to spend one and half hour with it and a few more with the thoughts of it.Thoughts however might disturb you though.

None of these rich, idle people induce much empathy. Self-absorbed and shallow, the father Brooks (Stephen Dillane), the son Antony (Eddie Redmayne), and the mother Barbara (Julianne Moore) go about their lives with nary a care in the world. Yet, they manage to inflict unhappiness on each other in ways that test the limits of family love.Complex human relationships with a tendency toward destructive behavior form the premise of "Savage Grace", a true-life story of the Baekeland family, heir to the Bakelite plastic fortune. The film's plot begins in 1946 when Antony is a baby. The plot ends with the shocking climax, in 1972.Curiously aloof and standoffish, the film suffers from an unfortunate structure. Snippets of their family life allow us to peek in at odd moments between 1946 and 1972. We see them as they jet-set their way through Spain, Italy, and France, and hobnob with the rich and famous. At one point, Barbara, a socialite and former model, concedes a sense of apathy and boredom. "To say that one is tired of Paris is in fact to say that one is tired of life".But because the plot spans 26 years, viewers must fill in the story gaps as best they can. Though I'm not one for lots of exposition, some added dialogue could have helped the narrative to flow better. As is, the story comes across as disjointed and at times confusing. Viewers must exercise patience to see where this slow, meandering story is leading.The film's technical elements, including acting, are fine. The main problem is the script, and in particular the plot structure. Still, the film instructs us on how life can disintegrate for people with too much time on their hands and no sense of responsibility. That money can't buy happiness may be a cliché, but this story affirms it, at least for one very dysfunctional family that thought that it could.