Rating: R
[T]he Hollywood culture of the 1950s is on full display in Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool. Wrapped in the calculated mannerisms of the era, sexpot actress Gloria Grahame won a supporting actress Oscar in ‘52.
For female film stars of that era, 25 was retirement age. There were legends who were exceptions, but most young women, like Grahame, fell into sudden oblivion. Women were scripted additions to male stars whose age, of course, didn’t matter.
Annette Bening recreates Grahame’s golden era, which was followed by an affair with the much younger actor Peter Turner. Eventually, she leaves him for another man, dabbles in ludicrous adventures, becomes sick and dies at 55.
The film is based on Turner’s memoir of his affair with Grahame after she was forced off the screen. Turner returns to Grahame’s side to take care of her in her final days.
We watch snatches of Grahame’s old movies, hear her memories – and watch her decline. The story unfolds in diminished natural colors as director Paul McGuigan and screenwriter Matt Greenhalgh turn Turner’s memories into a groundbreaking look at what can happen when stardom ends.
Bening plays a brave older woman who is living in pretense, caught in her own flawed imagining of who she really is. Grahame’s final words, “How do I look?” sums up the tragedy of her life. Bening, a mother of four who continues to command the screen at age 59, doesn’t soften the tough reality Grahame faces as an aging Hollywood actress.
Jamie Bell plays the role of Turner, the aspiring young English actor who was smitten with Grahame, and as the younger lover, resists any temptation to overdo his part. Julie Walters and Kenneth Cranham as Peter’s parents and Vanessa Redgrave as Grahame’s mother also give convincing performances.
The cast brings Turner’s book to the screen with great sensitivity.
