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Annette Bening plays Julia Lambert, a successful, acclaimed stage performer in London. Trouble is, she's getting a bit older and the parts that she is famous for will start disappearing to younger, more gorgeous actors (my, that doesn't sound like anything that happens today, does it?). In a sort of mid-life crisis, Julia strikes up an affair with a younger fan named Tom (Shaun Evans) behind who really has plans of his own to break into the industry (he's doing a little bit of male Becky Sharp work here). Of course, this is all behind the back of Julia's producer/husband Michael (Jeremy Irons).

Things get a bit more interesting when a younger actress named Avice (Lucy Punch) comes into the next play being produced. Julia quickly finds out she has been duped and plans a bit of revenge of her own, both on Avice and on Tom. This all comes crashing together in a final sequence that is a lot of fun to watch.

It's interesting to see Bening's work here. She gets the "Dahhhling!" aspect of her stage-performance down pat, especially her speaking voice which is low and "professional". Jeremy Irons has fun playing her husband. Juliet Steveson (whom I last remember from "Bend it Like Beckham") is also excellent as a stagehand, and watch out for Michael Gambon playing as a deceased guide to Julia's actions.

Stabo, directing from Ronald Harwood's screenplay based on W. Somerset Maugham's novel "Theatre", has previously directed several different-themed films than this one, including "Sunshine" (1999), "Mephisto" (1981) and "Offenbach's Secret" (1996). Here he directs with a warm and welcome palette of colorful cinematography and style. Though the film has somewhat of a Canadian look and feel (it was produced by big-wig Robert Lantos for a Canadian company), the film is enjoyable all the way to the very end thanks to its humour and solid acting.

By the attention that this film has been recieving at recent festivals (it opened both the Toronto and Vancouver Film Festivals) it can be assumed we are getting some kind of Oscar-worthy classic modern masterpiece, but rather it is a fun and likable comedy about the stage life that is (sadly) long, long gone.

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originally posted: 09/28/04 09:00:39
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