Savage Grace (2007)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Tom Kalin

Writers (WGA):

Howard A. Rodman (screenplay)
Natalie Robins (book) ...

Release Date:

20 September 2007 (Singapore)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A dramatization of the shocking Barbara Daly Baekeland murder case, which happened in a posh London flat on Friday 17 November 1972. The bloody crime caused a stir on both sides of the Atlantic and remains one of the most memorable American Tragedies...

Plot Keywords:

Socialite | Incest | 1960s | Mother Son Incest | Murder

Cast

Julianne Moore	...	Barbara Baekeland
Stephen Dillane	...	Brooks Baekeland
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Elena Anaya	...	Blanca
Simón Andreu	...	Jean Pierre Souvestre
Jim Arnold	...	Joost Van Den Heuvels
Xavier Capdet	...	Gate man
Barney Clark	...	Tony as a child
Hugh Dancy	...	Sam
Abel Folk	...	Carlos Durán
Mapi Galán	...	Simone Lippe
Martin Huber	...	Aschwin Lippe
Lina Lambert	...	Missy
Minnie Marx	...	Midge Van Den Heuvels
Peter Vives Newey	...	Mishka
Brendan Price	...	PC Roberts
Eddie Redmayne	...	Tony Baekeland
Anne Reid	...	Nini Daly
Belén Rueda	...	Pilar Durán
Unax Ugalde	...	Black Jake

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

Spain | USA | France

Language:

English | French | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX

Certification:

Singapore:R21 | Taiwan:R-18 | Japan:R-18 | Italy:VM14 | UK:15 | Ireland:16 | Germany:16 | Netherlands:12 | Portugal:M/18 | USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain

Company:

A Contraluz Films

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The Ambulance at the end of the film is a mid-seventies Chevrolet Van. While this might be correct for Spain, it would not be used in London as in the film.

Soundtrack:

Lullaby for Tony

Dark tale of a mother and son doesn't really connect with its audience

Story of Barbara Daly Baekeland, who married the heir to the Bakelite fortune. We watch as the relationship with her husband slides, the relationship with her son (who narrates) goes weird and everything collides in tragedy.

This is a dark little movie. Almost from the first frames the whole world seems wrong and off. The interaction between Barbara and her husband now that they have a son is at best awkward, at worst strained. Its clear from the start that Mom is paying way too much attention to her baby. Its unnerving. Whats also clear up front is that no one is "normal". Everyone is clearly in their own little damaged world (Dad travels, mom is isolated and the kid just tries to cope with all of the weirdness). As a means to an effect, namely making the audience feeling uneasy, it works in spades. As a means of making a film that is something that we can either relate to or want to watch for any reason other than it intrigues our baser instincts its not really the way to go. Forgive me, but I don't know why I was watching this, I mean let me put it simply, these people are nuts. These are rich people who are just strange.

Its doesn't help that the performances seem very mannered. All of the actors are very good but I felt as though I was watching a very very British mannered drama.The characters seem to be more a collection of ticks and manners then anything else. Yes I understand that everyone is wrapped up in themselves; behavior thats so guarded that each act (especially sex)seems to be for some ulterior reason, and that any unmannered act is one of self revelation, but at the same time it kept me distant. I never cared about anyone or anything, I only wanted to see how twisted this all got(And it gets pretty funky).

Is it any good? Yea, he says begrudgingly. The performances are good, especially Juliane Moore, the film is extremely well crafted and as much as I bitch, it does hold your attention in the same way that a bloody car wreck does (you keep watching to see how bad it gets because you know it has nothing to do with you). I wish it was just slightly better than it is, I wish there was some sign of what life was before the baby came along, I mean why did her husband marry her, I have no clue, nor do I know why he bothered to stay married to her as long as he did. I also wish this was about real people, instead of "martians", I mean most of the characters outside of the central ones seem reasonably normal, I cared more about them then the ones the film was about.

Is it worth seeing? I don't know if I would go out of my way to see it. Frankly the chance to see this kind of fell into my lap so I took it, especially since a friend had asked about the film at the instant the chance to see the film arrived. Would I have wanted to pay for it? In the end no, I want to get some thing else from the film then just feeling dirty.