A charming and emotionally resonant, improbable yet true love
story about a young man’s May – December relationship with a once famous Hollywood
actress, Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool is a little gem of a movie.
It stars a terrific Annette Bening (American
Beauty [1999], 20th
Century Women [2016]) as the faded star, in perhaps her finest performance
since The Kids Are All Right (2010),
and Jamie Bell, best known for playing the title role in Billy Elliot (2000), in a deeply nuanced, award-worthy turn as the
young man, Peter. For fans of great acting, this movie is highly recommended,
as the entire ensemble is terrific.
As is the story - by turns sweet, funny, romantic, poignant,
compassionate and memorable. It is based on the 1986 memoir (same title) by
Peter Turner, recalling his affair with Gloria Grahame which began in 1978, when
he was 26 and she was 54. Although Peter was unaware of her celebrity when they
met, Grahame was, as a character in the movie put it “a big name in black and
white films. Not doing so well in color.” Indeed.
Two other movies came to my mind when I first read about Film
Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool; however neither is at all apt. First, I thought of Sunset Boulevard (1950) because of the young man - aging actress
angle, but Film Stars is not gothic like Sunset Blvd, and the relationship between the principals is not
treated as grotesque (because it’s not). Then My Week With Marilyn (2011) came to mind for the young guy spends
time with sexy, glamourous star aspect of the story; except the love story here
is not a fleeting (if impactful) moment, but a deeply important part of both lovers’
lives.
Who was Gloria Grahame, you ask? During her heyday, which
stretched from the late 1940s well into the 1950s, she was a household name – nominated for an Oscar for her supporting role in Crossfire
(1947) as a sassy bargirl peripherally caught up in a murder investigation,
and then winning the award for playing Dick Powell’s vivacious Southern belle
wife in The Bad and the Beautiful
(1952). She held her own opposite Humphrey Bogart in my favorite Grahame film –
also one of my favorite Bogie pictures: In
a Lonely Place (1950); and was the tough moll to Richard Widmark’s
psychopath hood in The Big Heat
(1953). Others may remember her as Ado Annie Carnes, the girl who “caint say no”,
in the film adaptation of Oklahoma
(1955). Soon after that, however, her star began to dim – age (she turned 37 in
1960, ancient by Hollywood’s standards for actresses); a maverick reputation;
scandals fueled by her libidinous spirit - all contributed. But she kept on
acting in live theater, although increasingly in less than marquee venues. In
her 50s she was working smaller scale productions in the UK, which is how Peter
met her.
Both were staying at the same London rooming house. He was
an aspiring actor, she a veteran, struggling to stay in the game. They became
friends, then lovers. One of the appeals of Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool
is how natural this seems, despite their age disparity, and the differences in
class, background, experience and nearly everything else about Peter and Gloria.
Bening deserves much of the credit for making this work; her delightfully ebullient
Gloria is so altogether charming and alluring, Peter can’t help but fall in
love with her. Neither could I (nor most of others in the audience, I’d wager).
And credit Bell as well, for we see all of this through his character’s eyes –
and his eyes are incredibly expressive. Unlike
a lot of modern romantic pictures, this one actually allows us to watch the
love relationship develop, so we feel like we are falling in love along with
the characters. Credit the intelligent and evocative screenplay by Matt
Greenhalgh and the skill of director Paul McGuigan, as well.
Most romantic stories – be they novels, plays or motion
pictures – follow a time-proven formula laid out by Shakespeare’s Lysander four
hundred years ago: the course of true love never did run smooth. Accordingly, we expect setbacks, perhaps even
a break-up, while anticipating that somehow there will be reconciliation, maybe
even happily ever after or something like that. This is more a tale of love and
loss.
As I’ve mentioned, Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool is
an adaptation of a memoir, written some years after the fact. It is a reminiscence
and feels like it. Doubly so, actually, because while the meta-perspective is Peter’s
remembrance, the film itself begins in what might be called the third act, then
doubles back to the events of the first act (how Peter and Gloria meet and fall
in love) and second act (how their love affair plays out).
The picture starts in 2001, a couple of years after the pair
has broken up, when Peter gets a phone call from Gloria. In the UK for a touring
play, she has suffered a collapse. She claims that it’s nothing serious and does
not want medical treatment as the medicos are suggesting; rather she hopes she
can stay at his family’s home in Liverpool to recuperate, if it wouldn’t be too
much trouble. She’d be more comfortable there than in hospital – and she always
felt close to his family. Peter agrees
and goes to get her and bring her home. He soon learns that her condition is
more serious than she has described. This is the vantage point from which the
story is told, albeit with frequent, quite creative flashbacks to 1978 and
1979. The non-sequential narrative is beautifully and seamlessly rendered, not
at all confusing, and adds a richness and depth of feeling to the conclusion.
The transitions from the “present” to the past are artful
and creative. For example, Peter might walk through the front door to the
family’s Liverpool home and come out in a scene recalled from their relationship: Gloria’s New
York apartment two years earlier perhaps. Some reminiscence scenes are
designed to look rather like a moment in one of Grahame’s classic films. For
instance, when Peter and Gloria are on the beach outside her Malibu home, the
background ocean is rendered using the (once common, now archaic) technique of background
projection – as in a key sequence from In
a Lonely Place. It’s not so much a distraction, as a sort-of bonus point of
interest.
Using Peter’s perspective for most of the movie (one very key
sequence is actually presented twice, first as he experienced it, then several minutes later from Gloria’s point of view), works to provide us with a way in to knowing and understanding the complicated person that was Grahame. Another way in comes when she takes Peter to meet her mother (marvelous Vanessa Redgrave) and sister (Frances Barber) in L.A. This turns into a particularly dazzling moment as two great actresses, Redgrave and Bening, play off each other, and then Barber, as the disapproving sister, pointedly brings up a scandal from Gloria’s past – her affair with and eventual marriage (her 4th) to
her much younger stepson – primarily out of spite and, not incidentally, to shock
Peter. 
Speaking of family, Peter’s working-class home and family –
as an ensemble - must count as another star of Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool.
Grahame must have been drawn to these unassuming, salt of the earth
folks in her earlier romance with Peter – so different from the artificial, often
insincere strivers of Tinseltown. They treat her as a human being, not a
celebrity (or a has-been). Especially wonderful in this movie is Julie Waters [Educating Rita (1983), Billy Elliot, and of course Molly Weasley
in the Harry Potter movies] as Bella,
the warmhearted, no-nonsense matriarch of Peter’s family. The veteran actor Kenneth
Cranham as her ineffectual husband, Joe Senior, and Stephan Graham (Boardwalk Empire) as Peter’s brother Joe
Jr, needling his brother for being a poncey actor, while secretly admiring him. Getting to know these people and this place, we
understand why Gloria chose to come to them in her hour of need.
But the film ultimately belongs to Bening and Bell. Bening
is always good and occasional great. It was a pleasure but not a surprise to find that she is remarkable in this picture. Despite
having seen her in multiple roles in several previous movies, in this one the actress simply disappeared and became Gloria Grahame. Yet, the real discovery is Bell. Peter is the true
protagonist, and it his response to the unfolding events that connects us to
the story and ultimately makes it work. Bell’s
performance is a revelation. His face is so expressive, he shows us so
much wordlessly, and the range of his emotional responses is, by needs, so
great – I felt Peter’s wonder and thrill at falling in love and, along the way
to the denouement, a panoply of emotions from fascination with Gloria, to his confusion,
delight, anger, sorrow, and so much more as the tale played out. Quite
extraordinary.
Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool has received a mixed response
from other critics. Some laud it for the great performances and its exquisite
emotional punch. Some criticize its “generic weepy” quality. It has just been
nominated for three BAFTA awards – best screenplay, best leading actor and best
leading actress, and has received similar recognition from other awards
programs. So we’ll see. I found it a
pretty special movie – much in the way that The
Big Sick was a wonderful and special movie. Yes, a bit weepy, yet anything
but generic. It’s a little film with a big heart. And if, hopefully, it encourages
a new audience to see the films and appreciate the legacy of the great actress
Gloria Grahame, all the better.
105 minutes Rated
R
Grade A
Currently playing in
New York and L.A.
Opening in select theaters January 12, 2018, including the
Clay in San Francisco, as well as Scottsdale, Chicago, and Costa Mesa, Encino
and Pasadena CA; Opening January 19 in
select theaters around the SF Bay Area, greater New York, Atlanta, Boston,
Philadelphia, New Jersey, and throughout Florida. Continuing on a rolling release
schedule thereafter. Check for your location HERE (use the “Get Tickets” button)
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