Vivid, sharp-tongued and gloriously synthetic from crown to toenail, this rich slab of top-of-the-line theatrical cheese, adapted by playwright Ronald Harwood from W. Somerset Maugham's sublimely melodramatic
Theatre, is ripe to perfection and perfectly served up by Annette Bening, whose delivery is pitched flawlessly between art and artifice. London, 1938: Acclaimed, adored and still radiantly beautiful in the right light, Julia Lambert (Bening) is surrounded by fans and flatterers, but painfully aware that her days as the toast of the West End are numbered and her future holds only a gently sloping descent into dour supporting turns as mothers, schoolmistres...
Released:
2004
Rated:
R
Length:
105 mins