Steineded How sad is this?

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

suite92 The picture was made by adapting a biography about the death of Barbara Baekeland. Barbara rose into wealth and social status by marrying Brooks Baekeland, the heir to the Bakelite plastics fortune. The period under consideration is circa 1946, and the birth of Tony, to 1972 and the death of Barbara. The film is about stormy relationships: Tony and Barbara, Barbara and Brooks, Barbara and whomever she was intimate with.The action of the film comes in islands. The first island is around 1946 when Tony was born. We get to know Barbara and Brooks: she is skilled at maintaining and growing social networks in the upper class; he is an accomplished explorer, adventurer, and linguist. The next island is in 1959 in Spain. Tony is 13, has some skill in languages, and enjoys long, detailed conversations with Barbara. Barbara continues to spend time and energy on affairs. The parents find out that Tony has gay leanings. In 1967, Tony is tall, skinny, skilled at the guitar. He and his father talk a bit more clearly than usual, the main subject being Barbara and women in general. Soon he meets Blanca, and not long thereafter spends a night with her. Barbara tells her later that she thought he was delivering Blanca rather like a cat delivers a bird to its owner.In 1968, Brooks and Blanca decide to go somewhere together. Barbara catches up with them, and makes a very public scene. Tony and Jake get 'caught' by Barbara when she gets back from the airport. About this time, Sam enters the movie as a 'walker,' a homosexual man who escorts a married woman while her husband is away. How could this get more volatile?The setup for a bad ending is well established. As time goes forward to 1972 in London, the family dynamics get even worse. Just how do we get to the sad conclusion?----Scores-----Cinematography: 10/10 Beautifully shot: interiors, exteriors, day, or night.Sound: 9/10 Very few problems. The background music might have been more effective.Acting: 7/10 I liked Stephen Dillane, Eddie Redmayne, and Hugh Dancy. I did not care so much for Elena Anaya, Unax Ugalde, or Julianne Moore (yes, she's considered an untouchable tin god, but I think other actresses could have done as well or better here).Screenplay: 8/10 I could have used more exposition.

Arcadio Bolanos Tom Kalin's film is not a simple story about classical Oedipus complex. Sure, the symbolic death of the father might be found as well as a very literal carnal commerce with the mother. Savage Grace is mainly a story about a boy growing up and struggling with his existential dilemmas and dealing with that to which Jacques Lacan or Zizek would refer as "the real" in opposition to "reality". Here reality is that of a wealthy family with a life full of luxuries and eccentricities. But that's reality. The symbolic order. Beneath all that there is an excess, something that can be neither subdued nor fully explained.Lacan also said that desire would be connected with the real. And thus when desire conquers everything, the ugly truth shows up in the surface. But I won't spoil the grim finale even to those who might have heard about the real case that inspired this story.It's interesting, however, to observe that young Baekeland is in-between-places. His sexuality seems to surmount the models Lacan would include in his orthodox sexuation graphic. He has homosexual encounters at a very early age and then later on. But that does not seem to seclude him from other experiences (namely the incestuous aspect of the relationship with his mother).I would say that the ultimate failure comes from his inability to articulate his desire. And this inability will lead him to act against his own interests in a most nefarious way.

nagsaptarshi 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.

Lechuguilla 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.