BEL AMI (R)
Where: On general release
When: May 24
Review: Stephen A Russell
BEL Ami is the debut cinematic offering from Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod, artistic directors of British theatre company Cheek By Jowl. Adapted from Guy de Maupassant’s 1885 novel of the same name, Rachel Bennette’s screenplay fails to capture the subtleties of his socio-political tale.
The film is set in Belle époque Paris, although you’d hardly guess it, thanks to some cheapskate location work in Budapest and apparently no extra cash for more than a passing glimpse of stock footage.
There’s not much else to look at either. Robert Pattinson stars as Georges Duroy, a commoner with views to improving his lot in life, largely by sleeping with half of well-to-do Paris. I can’t see it myself. Whatever the hordes of Twilight tweenies foam about, to me he’s a dour-faced drip with little more acting ability than the cockroach that he regularly shares screen time with.
Surely the coterie of society ladies portrayed by Kristin Scott Thomas, Christina Ricci and Uma Thurman make it worth the ticket, I hear you cry. Nope. All three seem to have been sedated, failing to unleash their star power. The fact we’re supposed to swallow that they in turn throw themselves obsessively upon Duroy, with little or no lead-up for the most part, is something of a stretch. Pattinson doesn’t have the chops to carry it off and the sex scenes are hilariously bad. How on earth he manipulates character after character into advancing his upward social mobility is a mystery.
A brief cameo by Game of Thrones’ Natalia Tena as a Montmartre courtesan is fleetingly promising, although she, of course, falls head over high heels for Duroy, too. Colm Meaney is a disastrous casting choice as Duroy’s condescending editor.
Yes, the costumes are fabulous, but for the most part the film’s trapped in dull offices and stuffy parlours. Donnellan and Ormerod’s theatre clout fails to shine too, with underwhelming direction throughout.
The whole thing reeks like stale cheese and ends up being a fudged attempt at Dangerous Liaisons-lite.
