Savage Grace – DVD Review

By Frankie Dees Dec 15, 2008, 13:17 GMT

Set across a stunning backdrop ranging from New York to Paris to Cadaqués, Savage Grace is the incredible true story of a scandal that even today remains shocking. The beautiful Barbara Daly (Academy Award-nominee Julianne Moore; The Hours, Boogie Nights) marries above her social class to the dashing heir of the Bakelite plastics fortune, Brooks Baekeland (Stephen Dillane of the HBO miniseries "John Adams"). The birth of the couple\'s only ...more

Powered by what I guess could be called a strong performance from Julianne Moore, this methodically paced freak show of a film details the true story of an upper society family that spirals wildly out of control in a life of decadence, lust and, ultimately, tragedy. 

The first feature film from director Tom Kalin in fifteen years, who previously made 'Swoon' another real-life tale of scandal and murder, his style is slow, matter-of-fact and unwavering. Distinctly 'arthouse', I imagine this film will bore the heck out of casual filmgoers by ten minutes in and even arthouse patrons may find this film hard to stomach by the end. 

The film tells the true story of the marriage of Barbara Daly (Julianne Moore) and Brooks Baekeland (Stephen Dillane). The family gets their wealth from the invention of Brooks grandfather - Bakelite, a type of plastic used in pretty much everything. They use their wealth to flitter from one social circle to the next, from New York to London to Paris. 

Barbara is all facades and has an air of superiority and in the early scenes; husband and wife can't seem to stand each other. This story is narrated by their son Tony (Eddie Redmayne), who had no choice but to grow up extremely disturbed. By the time Tony is in his late teens, Brooks leaves Barbara and runs off with a young Spanish girl Tony brings home from the beach. 

Sexually ambivalent (he seems just as happy with a pot-smoking beach bum Jake), Tony didn't quite feel the betrayal of his father as much as his mother did. The two fall into a pattern of hedonism and madness with the first signs of genuine disturbance being when they both fall into bed with Sam (Hugh Dancy) a bisexual 'walker' who keeps both of them happy when Brooks left. And I don't mean both in bed with Sam at separate times.

By the final scenes of the descent, what happens on-screen would be barely tolerable if made up, but knowing that this is a true story...makes it hard to watch. Really hard to watch.

Sporting a low-budget that gives the whole film a slightly detached washed-out look, the film takes it time to get going, but the performances are necessarily strong with Moore giving an extremely brave (to say the least) perf. 

Tony Baekeland never had a chance despite a number of efforts on his part to try and give some meaning to his life (learning that Leonardo Da Vinci wrote backwards so his notes could only be read in a mirror, Tony attempts to do the same in his diary as if that proves that somebody else would care to read it) and Eddie Redmayne, whom I only recognized from 'The Good Shepard', adds a sad depth to the role. By the end, you can see a character developing that might end up as a Tom Ripley. 

The film is presented in anamorphic widescreen with two special features that include a 'Behind the Scenes' and 'The Back Story' both of which provide some interviews and behind the scenes footage. 

This would honestly be a hard film for me to recommend to almost anybody. Despite strong performances, I don't think the film comes together particularly well and the characters aren't as well drawn as they need to be. It's as if we're looking in on the characters and don't see what drives them (if anything). This makes the viewing more sad and pathetic than enlightening or fascinating. 

Savage Grace is now available for pre-order at Amazon for a Dec. 23rd release. It is now available at AmazonUK. Visit the DVD database for more information.