Being Julia

Annette Bening acts until she damn near explodes in this visually impressive, sometimes uneven, adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham’s novel, Theatre. Bening portrays Julia Lambert, a 45-year-old London stage actress in the 1930s having an affair with a man half her age and suffering a sort of mini breakdown. Bening and director István Szabó do a convincing job of showing how all of the affairs, tantrums, backstabbing and deception wind up simply being a part of the theater process—necessary evils to put on a good show and keep the acting fresh. Jeremy Irons is superb as Michael, Bening’s husband and business manager who is proud of his modern, non-possessive marriage. The film’s major flaw is an underdeveloped gimmick where Julia takes advice and counseling from the ghost of her deceased mentor (Michael Gambon). The ghost presence is so inconsequential, it could’ve been dropped from the film entirely. Bening and company bring so much realism to the London theater scene that it’s surprising to realize the characters and plays are not based on reality, but totally fiction.