Being Julia

(Herald rating * * * *)

This film is all about Annette Bening, and she knows it. Her performance as legendary English stage actress Julia Lambert is mesmerising and worthy of her Golden Globe best actress win earlier in the year. Unfortunately for her co-stars, Bening steals the show, just as you'd expect the actress she's playing would.

Being Julia has been a popular choice at film festivals around the world, but don't assume this film is a snooty art flick. On the contrary, it's a very easy and pleasant watch.

The film is beautifully directed by Oscar-winning director Istvan Szabo, and although it has a very lovely, lush feel it also has an underlying hardness as Julia deals with her real-life midlife crisis in the unreal world of the theatre.

In 1938, Julia Lambert, along with her brilliant theatrical producer husband Michael Gosselyn, (Irons) rule the stage in London's West End. From the outside it appears Julia has pretty much everything - wealth, fame and a very understanding husband. The reality is quite different. Julia, in her 40s, is increasingly concerned about her looks and career, estranged from her only son, and her marriage has lost its spark. Young admiring actresses vie for the opportunity to work with the great actress, but all Julia sees is her replacement and path to inevitable retirement.

When a young, broke, star-struck American, Tom Fennell (Evans), enters Julia's life, she finds herself youthfully caught up in a love affair.

The illicit affair's lust and passion is the boost Julia needs to rekindle her passion for the theatre. When Tom leaves her and begins a relationship with a younger up-and-coming actress he asks Julia to help to launch her career, and Julia's humiliation drives her to the performance of her life.

Lambert loved drama off-stage as much as she did on-stage. Bening's Lambert is selfish and demanding, yet honest and lovable; and when she destroys her rival while the two are on-stage, you can't help but feel elation for this woman, and think Bening has never looked better.

CAST: Annette Bening, Jeremy Irons, Shaun Evans, Juliet Stevenson, Bruce Greenwood
DIRECTOR: Istvan Szabo
RUNNING TIME: 103 mins
RATING: M (sex scenes)
SCREENING: Hoyts, Rialto, Berkeley