Review of Being Julia (2004) by Walter M — 29 Dec 2005

[font=Century Gothic]"Being Julia" takes place in 1938 London where Julia Lambert(Annette Bening) is one of the top theatre actresses in the city.(She has a nasty habit of giving performances even when she is offstage.) Her husband, Michael(Jeremy Irons), owns the theatre where she performs. She is exhausted from performing and wants a break. Enter Tom Fennell(Shaun Evans), a young penniless American admirer who does wonders for her spirits.[/font].

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[font=Century Gothic]At its best, "Being Julia" is a predictable, slight look at the world of the theatre.(I would have liked to have seen more about the travails of an aging actress and the difficulty of getting worthwhile parts.) Then, it ends on one of the most corrosive notes in cinema history which ruins anything positive that might have happened before. This is a shame because Annette Bening does a wonderful job and there is a great supporting cast including Michael Gambon, Juliet Stevenson, Bruce Greenwood, Maury Chaykin and Rosemary Harris. But the less experienced actors, Shaun Evans and Lucy Punch, are simply overwhelmed. [/font].