Stars: Annette Bening, Jeremy Irons, Bruce Greenwood, Michael Gambon

Director: Istvan Szabo

Summary: Despite being a successful actress, below the surface Julia Lambert is deeply troubled by her disloyal husband and her estranged son. Happiness finally appears to enter her life in the form of her son's friend Tom, but when she realises that he has an ulterior motive, she seeks revenge...

As she enters her early 40s, London theatre actress Julia Lambert (Annette Bening) starts having a nervous breakdown. She still rules the West End, but is growing too old for ingenue parts. When Tom Fennell (Shaun Evans), an adoring lad half her age, comes into her life, a clandestine affair begins. Though she's happy for a while, Julia eventually winds up in a face-off with a Tom's other, much younger lover (Lucy Punch). Luckily, the spirit of Julia's cantankerous old acting coach (London theatre legend Michael Gambon) follows Julia around offering some tough-love encouragement. Set in the late 1930s, this is a fine costume comedy-drama about the sorrows and joys of art. The eternal question of 'when am I acting and when am I myself'.

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Annette Bening's outstanding performance is the best reason to see Being Julia, a highly melodramatic adaptation of the 1937 novel Theatreby W. Somerset Maugham. With a prestigious pedigree (director Istvan Szabo and screenwriter Ronald Harwood share impressive theatrical backgrounds) and a stellar cast including Jeremy Irons, Bruce Greenwood, and Juliet Stevenson, the film's backstage and onstage theatrics take place in pre-World War II London, when the venerable actress Julia (Bening) fends off middle-age by romancing a stage-struck young American (Shaun Evans) in a calculated attempt to retain some youthful vitality while airing her own dirty laundry onstage in a glorious act of divine diva behavior. Treating life and theater as one big play in which she's the perpetual star, Julia's nothing if not a master thespian, and Bening's got all the chops to keep her in the spotlight. If the film isn't quite worthy of Bening's excellence, at least it gives her performance the showcase it deserves. -- Jeff Shannon

Aspect Ratio:	1.85 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Director And Cast Commentary With Istvan Szabo And Jeremy Irons And Annette Bening, Deleted Scenes, Making Of Featurette
Subtitles:	English, Hindi
Year:	2004
Release Date:	August 17, 2009
Runtime:	100 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	C D R 36845
Keywords:	Being, General, Wide, Screen, Julia, Drama
Genre:	Drama