Savage Grace

SYNOPSIS

This belated second feature from Swoon director Tom Kalin is another lurid true story of the rich and deeply dysfunctional. At its core is the unnaturally close and ultimately tragic relationship between brittle American socialite Barbara Daly Baekeland (an impressive Julianne Moore) and her louche son Tony (played as an adult by a well-cast Eddie Redmayne). Beginning in New York in 1946, the film is narrated by Tony and charts the story of his mother's unhappy marriage to plastics heir Brooks Baekeland (Stephen Dillane) over the next two decades. There's barely a let-up in the procession of social and sexual humiliations that haunts these three unhappy figures, as the tone veers between black comedy, melodrama and moments of genuine pathos. But, in the end, it is Moore's performance as the chronically insecure Barbara that anchors this fascinating yet sometimes frustratingly superficial story - bravely conveying the deep unhappiness beneath the glittering surface.