Audio Asylum Thread Printer

I was inclined to love that movie. It came with good recommendation and as a present from a dear friend. Plus I used to love Somerset Maugham... long time ago, though... seems like centuries had passed since then.
I am quite ambivalent towards Annette Bening. I found her generally smart and with taste, but irritating nonetheless. Is it that Hollywood Super Diva's self-assured look she always carries around, and takes with her to all her roles? Perhaps if she smiled meakly even once, and showed a bit of a human uncertainty I would feel much better about her, but as it is, she puts great separation between her, and her perfect life, and the rest of us, low forms, with our worries, troubles, doubts and concerns. In short - she is like a Greek goddess - too perfect to be human, and too antiquated to play any serious role in my life.
At the same time I have to admit that she can play well, and in some of her roles had been nearly captivating... even if for a brief time.
The role of Julia seems to be created for her... heck, it feels like Maugham wrote his novel looking at Annette, so one would expect a perfect marriage there. The marriage that was not to be.
Since the beginning the movie takes the all too familiar flavor. Not offensive, but simply one of those "OK, you keep going, and in the meantime I will go to the kitchen, get another cup of tea, let the dog out, check my emails, and then be back... hopefully by that time you will have something to tell us..." sort of flavors. Yes, I was much younger when I read Maugham, but was that fact all that was responsible for the lack of grab?
Bening shone in some scenes. She had that magic sparkle in her eyes here and there, and she and director did good job at not glossing over her aging face - that certainly added great deal to the overal impression. But something was missing.
Part of it was answered this morning, when my wife read to me one of the key scenes in the book - the one between her and her gay admirer. The scene in the movie simply had nothing to offer, and the book... that was a wonderful example of truly brilliant prose, full of deep insight, humor and author's inventiveness, that surely created an event worth remembering. Completely lost in the film.
My sense of disappointment reached its hight as the movie climaxed. The revenge scene simply turned me off like nothing I recall in my recent movie experiences. The cruely, the complete lack of any humanity, the total self absorption, and sheer lack of any compassion that Julia-Bening displayed were truly appauling, and it killed Julia... it killed Bening... and it killed the rest of the film.
Is Bening to be blamed for that torturous scene? Most likely the director carries an even bigger burden, but it is clear Bening played with passion, so she shares in the blame.
As the credits started to roll, I kept quietly depressed for a while, then turned to my wife and told her how disappointed I was in that scene, and how I could not believe that Maugham, a humanist with great taste and power of observation, could have written such a fisco. She, who remembered the work quite well, assured me that she also found it not meeting the norms of good taste, and was certain that the book handled the subject in a different, and far more subtle way. She will probably read it to me tonight.
Having refreshed my memory to the wonderful Somerset Maugham prose, there is no doubt left that the movie does extremely poor job relaying it, the heart of it, and that the director's touch is heavy and superficial... or was it intentional?
I am not enjoying writing this - there was something personal in that film, and yet that personal note made it so much more disagreeable.
Will Patrick ever forgive me?

Films/DVD Asylum

Being Julia... or Being Very Mean Julia