Regular
readers of this blog will have noticed at some point that I do a lot of viewing
on BBC Iplayer. I would strongly recommend it to the uninitiated; it is often
brimming with interesting if rather under advertised propositions. I only
clicked on Savage Grace because I thought I recognized Julianne Moore in the
thumbnail and only then realized what a relevant film it was to this Oscar
season as it co-stars this seasons other favorite, Eddie Redmayne. Savage Grace
is a disturbing true story and a true acting masterclass by the two stars. And
with controversial director Tom Kalin (of Swoon fame) at the helm, we would not
be wrong to expect big things from this one. Which is why I was profoundly
disappointed when it ended up not quite coming together in the end…
This is the
story of the American actress and socialite Barbara Daly Bakeland (Julianne Moore) and her
murder at the hands of her son Anthony ( Eddie Redmayne). Barbara is the epitome of the
histrionic actress, driving her husband away relatively early in the marriage and
being left to raise their son Anthony alone, with the help of various family
friends and relatives. Barbara being obsessed with getting her old position
with society back, Anthony is pretty much left to his own devices to experiment
and find his own way in life. And his mother’s reaction to these experiments
is, shall we say, not exactly conventional… Thus swimming through a strange,
fluid atmosphere quite devoid of boundaries, the pair arrives at the ultimate
tragedy that will end Barbara’s life.
The film
has one heck of a lot of potential. But what looks like has happened is that
Kalin has tried to take a formula that worked incredibly well for him in the
early nineties with Swoon – namely a murder with sexual motivations laced with
madness and a strange sort of folie a deux and re-adapt it. The problem is,
while this works well for Swoon, it falls strangely flat for Savage Grace. The
acting was superb and the direction very atmospheric if in places a little old
fashioned but throughout, I felt as if there was something missing. The last
half-hour or so came together a lot better, with Anthony finally
making it quite clear that the – something is not quite right – feeling we had
been harboring for a while now was bona fide insanity and having a magnificent
breakdown on screen. In fact I finished the film wishing that there had been
more of the last half hour and less of the first hour – if that makes sense as
a sentence. Then I went online to see what I could find out about the story and
promptly discovered what was missing. Basically it was a whole chunk of the
real story
.
WARNING.THE
NEXT PARAGRAPH IS BASICALLY SPOILER CITY. BUT THE MURDER IS IN THE Public
DOMAIN SO… EHM. YEAH. Don’t get me wrong I am ALL for artistic license and –
within reason – playing around with real life stories a tiny bit to suit a
vision. And I also see that cinematically speaking what Kalin was trying to do
was have a tense but understated first two thirds with subtle hints at the
underlying incest with a dramatic reveal and “descent into madness” type
finale. The problem for me was that the hinting was a little too subtle and
didn’t quite get one on the same emotional level. In real life, it transpires,
Anthony had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia years before the murder
had occurred (in the film there is no mention of it) but his father wouldn’t
allow him to be treated by psychiatrists. The incestuous relationship with his
mother had also been going on for years (in the film this is hinted at but
never elaborated – I got the impression the scene in the final half hour is the
culmination, not one in many if you get what I mean). The incest had its roots
in the fact that Barbara could never quite accept Anthony being gay and was
“trying to fix him”. In this attempt he had also been coerced to have sex with
prostitutes. Again, none of this had been mentioned. In fact Anthony and
Barbara had had numerous violent quarrels involving knives and a previous
attempted murder, all of which is overlooked in the film.
But then
again, there is no great dramatic reveal in a young man with previous mental
health issues tipping over the edge I suppose, so all of that is abandoned in
lieu of a dramatic reveal at the end that leaves us gagging for more. Grand
reveals are all very well and good in their place. But especially when it comes
to mental illness the slow and steady descent into madness can be just as
dramatic, not least because it usually corresponds more to the real experience
people have of mental illness. And I mean it is not as if there weren’t plenty
of dramatic events for this to lead off from – not least since the concept of
“fixing” gay people is sadly still an actual topic today. Between that and the
incest – the fact that technically his mother raped him – just sticking to the
facts and doing much less in the way of editing and contributing would have
made a completely sensational story. Especially with actors as brilliant as
Moore and Redmayne.
I would, in short, class Savage Grace as a
missed opportunity more than anything else. It has some wonderfully dramatic
glimmers but it never quite opens its wings and soars. Still it is well worth
the watch if only for the wonderful performances and one of the most terrifying
depictions of madness I have seen on screen for a while.
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