Julia Lambert (Annette Bening) is a true diva: beautiful, talented, wealthy and famous.  She has it all – including a devoted husband (Jeremy Irons) who has masterminded her brilliant career – but after years of shining in the spotlight she begins to long for something new and exciting to put the twinkle back in her eye.  Julia finds exactly what she is looking for in a handsome young American fan, but it isn’t long before the novelty fling adds a few more sparks than she was hoping for…

Julia is bored with her life.  At 45, she has been in theatre for most of her life, has been famous for years, and has seen it all.  When we find her, she is in the middle of yet another show, another role, another packed house.  Life has turned into one big yawn.  Her husband, Michael, is an ex-actor turned businessman who is happy with the way things are.  The predictability of it all has become too much for Julia.  Added to the fact that she is starting to realize that her best days are probably behind her, and it is all more than Julia can take.

Enter Tom – T-O-M – a dashing young American fan of Julia’s.  Tom is, as Michael puts it, “as poor as a church mouse,” and they help him out, having him for meals and lending him money.  Tom and Julia fall into a heated affair, which reignites Julia’s lust for life.  Tom is a young, slick bullshit artist, and it quickly becomes evident that he is taking advantage of Julia, that she actually grows to love him and that the relationship means more to her than it does to him.  As manipulative as he is, he cannot match Julia’s life experience.  Tom is played by Scottish actor Shaun Evans, and he gives a good performance, but he plays Tom as such a yokel that he is at times difficult to take seriously.  Tom’s very Americanness feels like a put-on, a not so subtle joke.

Being Julia is all about acting and theatre, and parts of the film has the feel of an inside joke, as though the film was made for the amusement of those making it as opposed to those watching it.  Out of this comes Jimmy Langton (Michael Gambon), Julia’s theatrical Svengali, the man who molded her into a great actress all those years ago.  Langton is talked about, and he is an apparition of sorts, appearing to Julia only in spirit, only in her head; he is a memory.  Gambon has little screen time, but he turns in a dynamic performance, and his presence here only adds to the film.

The play between Julia and Michael is the most entertaining piece of the film.  They have been together for 20 years, and the old fires have gone out; the dynamics of the relationship have changed.  Both know about each other’s little trysts, yet they are faithful to each other in their own way.  That is to say that they are both about The Show, what goes on the stage, and as we see in a scene towards the end of the film, that is the bottom line for both of them.  As long as the show goes on, so will they.

There are a number of great performances here, but this film belongs to Bening.  She plays Julia for the diva that she is, with a perfect mix of levity and irony.  Looking at the story and the characters, it is obvious that Bening put much of herself into the role, and that radiates through the screen.  Bening’s charm and compelling performance are enough to make this film worth seeing.  She is particularly strong towards the end of the film, during the Big Show, where Julia puts all of her skills on display and steals the show.  In doing so, Julia rediscovers herself.  This is the high point of the film, and Bening plays it to perfection.

The acting is the saving grace of Being Julia.  Though well written, the story feels too familiar to really be fresh, and the film is not shot in any kind of interesting way; the set ups are all fairly standard, a point and shoot style of filmmaking.  By the time we reach the climax of the film, we have gotten the point, and we know how things will end up.  That does not make watching it any less enjoyable, but it takes away the dramatic suspense.  Being Julia is worth seeing for the pleasure of a solid actress sinking her teeth into a good role, but beyond that we have little more than a BBC style afternoon special.

THE VIDEO

Being Julia is presented in the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio.  The transfer is perfectly clean, beautifully translating the film’s warm colors and rich photography.  The video is free of scratches and distortions, and all color levels come through sharply.

This DVD is presented in 5.1 Dolby Digital.  This is not the most aurally taxing film, but the presentation is superb.  There are no pops or hisses, and all the dialogue comes through loud and clear.  Of particular note are the theater scenes, where the ambient sounds really give us the feeling of being there.

Commentary with Director Istvan Szabo, Annette Bening and Jeremy Irons: The director and two principal stars talk about how the project evolved, how the characters were fleshed out and the motivation behind certain scenes.

Behind the Scenes of Being Julia: The actors talk about the basic story of the film, the characters, and how everyone plays off of each other.

The Making of Being Julia: On-set footage of the making of the film: a read-through of the script, setting up the shots, and the actual filming of scenes.  There is some minor interest here, but it is almost too short to really get anything from.