Savage Grace (2007)

Set across a stunning backdrop ranging from New York to Paris to Cadaqués, Savage Grace is the incredible true story of a scandal that even today remains shocking. The beautiful Barbara Daly (Academy Award-nominee Julianne Moore; The Hours, Boogie Nights) marries above her social class to the dashing heir of the Bakelite plastics fortune, Brooks Baekeland (Stephen Dillane of the HBO miniseries "John Adams"). The birth of the couple's only child, Tony (Eddie Redmayne of The Good Shepard), intensifies the already volatile marriage. As Tony matures, he becomes an unwilling pawn in the psychosexual games of his parents, and the seeds for a tragedy of spectacular decadence are sown which challenge even the most shocking taboos. Tom kalin's (Swoon) return to cinema has dazzled and stunned audiences from the Cannes to the Sundance Film Festivals.

Stills from Savage Grace (Click for larger image)

A bit too graceful?

Wouldn't fault this compelling movie in purely cinematic terms. I would have given it 5 stars were it not for the nagging suspicion that it might have somewhat stylised the dysfunctional traumas involved. November 23, 2008

AWFUL..Simply AWFUL

I'm a great fan of Julianne Moore and I'm so disappointed that she would even consider a role in such a low-grade film. I'm not sure what this world is coming to, but we don't need to see crap like that in the movies or on television. Mother and son in bed with another man, doing each other. Moore is above this type of acting. I sure hope she doesn't do such a movie again. I always thought she had a little class, but it was gone by the wayside in this movie. My advice. Don't bother. October 2, 2008

Beautiful and Chilling

"Savage Grace"

Beautiful and Chilling

Amos Lassen

"Savage Grace" is based on the true story of Barbara Daly, a woman who married above her social class to Brooks Baekeland, the man who was heir to the Bakelite empire of plastic. She was beautiful and determined and many considered her to be hotheaded. She was no match for her husband. The couple had one son, Tony, who lived to the extreme and put his parent's marriage at risk. He was gay and his father considered him a failure so he naturally gravitated to his mother who was lonely in her own way. The coming together of mother and son laid the seeds for tragedy. The film covers the years from 1946-1972 and shows how the Baekeland's quest for social acceptance, distinction and the "good life" takes them all over the world and we watch them rise and fall.
The wonderful Christine Vachon produced this film and her aesthecism shines throughout. Julianne Moore as Barbara gives a fine performance (as she always does) but she did not inhabit the role as she has done in other films.
Because this is a true story, there is intrigue here and as I watched, I could not help but care about the characters. The film engages the viewer even though the film is bizarre to a degree. The film is quite frank in ways American film are usually not. The problem I found us there is no complete story and much seems to be missing. The fact that what happened in the film actually happened makes it a disturbing movie to watch.
Tony, the son, discovers his homosexuality at a young age and he is intent upon loosing his connection to his father who is cold and dark from the beginning of the film. The costumes and hair styles are wonderful and the cinematography is beautiful to watch.
September 10, 2008

Great insights into the effects of unearned wealth

The story (true) is great for anyone interested in getting rich. Illustrates the common reduction of humanity in those who are given wealth they have not earned (most inheritors). A prescient warning for all those wannabe free-market capitalists who are struggling along the road of greed to gain the baubles and bangles that billions and millions will allow them to consume. All hail the almighty dollar (euro) and what it can buy for me and show me to be one of the best on this globe.

The book is, of course, better but not as attractively ugly as the film. July 29, 2008

A Lost Dog Collar: Impact and Consequences

SAVING GRACE is screenwriter Howard A. Rodman's adaptation of Natalie Robins and Steven M.L. Aronson's brutally realistic book by the same name of a famous wealthy family's downfall. Director Tom Kalin has previously proved that he can successfully mix biopic with drama ('Swoon'), but alas in this tedious film he fails to make the audience care about any of his characters, despite the fact that he cast this strange collection of edgy types with outstanding actors. In the end, after witnessing an incestuous relationship between mother and son and a subsequent brutal murder, the only moment of tenderness is a very lost boy's need to recover the collar of his childhood dog, long dead but hardly forgotten in the murky soup that has been his life.

Knowing that the story is true adds a bit of intrigue: the family of a plastics mogul is in the third generation: Brooks Baeklande (Stephen Dillane) wallows in his wealth without positively contributing to his family reputation; his wife Barbara (Julianne Moore), a former actress and Feline's salesgirl who marries into wealth only to become obsessed with climbing a ladder that repeatedly betrays her 'class'; their only son Antony (Eddie Redmayne) who moves from his mother's worshipped idol to his father's loathed rival at his being bisexual/gay to a series of affairs - none of which he finds satisfying or fulfilling, especially his ultimate incestuous relationship with his mother. The film runs from 1946 (Antony's birth) to 1972 and the tragic finale and during this time the audience is conducted through the superficial corridors of life among the wealthy and influential people of New York, Paris, London, Cadaques. Along the way we meet some interesting characters, paramours of Antony played by Elena Anaya, the gifted actors Unax Ugalde and Hugh Dancy, and a host of other bit parts who enliven the action or act as stimuli for the crumbling downfall of Barbara Baekeland.

The various periods of time are well captured by cinematographer Juan Miguel Azpiroz who manages to give us the 'superficial beauty' of these empty souls while keeping a safe distance from their degrading antics. The musical score by Fernando Velázquez is always too loud and falls between the cracks of elevator Muzak and takeoffs on Wagner's leitmotifs from 'Tristan und Isolde'.

The major problem with this film is that it is nearly impossible for us to emotionally invest in any of the characters, even as well defined as they are in the hands of such excellent actors. It is this distance that sinks the film, a 'biopic' about rather distasteful folks that offers little insight into the positive aspects of their deranged behavior. Or perhaps that void is what Tom Kalin is striving to depict. It just misses. Grady Harp, June 08 June 29, 2008

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