The flyer promoting this film claims a brooding tale of seduction and scheming that is brought to life by its cast. More playful than you might expect, it’s a delicious period piece that stays true to the tone of the novel. A sleekly spellbinding version of Guy de Maupassant’s moral tale of the same name.

The allusion to Dangerous Liaisons as a model for the coming story presented possibilities – it is one of my favourite films for social intrigues of the 1890s period dramas and had me hooked to John Malkovitch as an actor ever after.

The costume and set design for Bel Ami is certainly sumptuous and the cinematography looks wonderful. However, the promise of being spellbound by the intrigues and unscrupulous behaviours as I was with Dangerous Liaisons didn’t happen.  I wonder what Guy de Maupassant would make of this film version of his work.

Robert Patterson as Georges Duroy, the ambitious young protagonist seeking to improve his social position, lacked emotional highs and lows. A brilliant smile or a sullen sort of anger ran the gamut of emotional offering from him.  I have to say I don’t find him particularly beautiful or handsome either, those weirdly lack-lustre hooded eyes and strange broad white teeth hitting the eye when he smiles – perfect for the role of a vampire, but without more personality behind them made for a most disappointing young would-be sophisticate on the rise in the 1890s French society represented in this story.

Uma Thurman as Madeleine Forestier the woman who helps Duroy gain a position as a journalist is very good, as one would expect. Philip Glenister of Ashes ably plays her husband Charles Forestier to Ashes fame, but he seems to emote much the same persona as he did in the TV series.

Kirsten Scott Thomas as Virginie Walters is her usual detached self until she enters a liaison with Duroy. Suddenly she’s kittenish, all giggly and constantly touching Duroy. The fact her character claims never to have had an affair is one thing, but given her social position a degree of sophisticate is still to be expected even for a first-time affair. She becomes borderline hysteric when told to cool it by Duroy as he summarily shoves her off. 

Christina Ricci (Clotilde de Marelle) is pretty, petite and rather likeable and surprisingly sophisticated in conducting her affair with Duroy.  Clotilde knows the rules of engagement, including providing an elegant love-nest in which to conduct their trysts. As Clotilde, Ricci portrays the most believable characterisation and is perhaps the only really likeable one from the whole bunch.

The lack of cohesiveness in the storyline, whether the fault of direction by Declan Donnellon and Nick Ormorod in interpreting Rachel Bennette’s screenplay or the script itself, Bel Ami fails to deliver ‘the delicious period piece of seduction and intrigue nor do the cast manage to breathe life into its telling. 

Still, go and see it if only for the elegant attire of the period in which it is set and beautiful décor and architecture. 

(Source: talewaggercreations)

thecomposites:

As The Composites nears its 50th image I thought it was time to look at what was popular on the site statistically.  Anyone can see what was the most shared composite on the archives page (It’s Humbert Humbert, if you were wondering) but I wanted to add a dimension of literary analysis and break the numbers down to crimes committed by characters when possible. Not all the composite characters on the site slot easily under the definition “criminal” —and, like literature itself, the defining elements of criminality can be culturally, politically, and temporally relative and biased—but I think the most compelling composites have a clear mark of criminality or transgression, which makes for a perfect meeting of two mediums: fiction and forensic art. Please feel free to offer any corrections. The statistical breakdown is after the jump and the chart above links to a larger image.

Thanks to all the fans and friends of this site and please keep the suggestions coming for the next 50. 

Read More

An interesting analysis on an interesting tumblr