Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2017)

Such a frustrating disappointment

best movie i've ever seen.

A different way of telling a story

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This was such a revelation to me, I never knew Gloria Grahame even came to England. The actors all gave convincing performances in what is an intimate story. I loved the line which Peter gave when he said, 'I'm just a guy who can't say no' as it is a direct reference to the song which Gloria sang in 'Oklahoma!' - 'I'm just a girl who can't say no'! I will watch this again.

I remember the first time I saw Gloria Grahame on screen it was in the theater in Oklahoma where she played goodhearted good time girl Ado Annie. She played a lot of good time girls in more serious films as well. My best memories of her on the screen were in The Big Heat and Not As A Stranger. During her peak years in the Fifties Gloria Grahame got the first call when one had to cast a woman of easy virtue. She won an Oscar for The Bad And The Beautiful for a woman who is led astray. Usually Gloria did the leading.Annette Bening did a good job interpreting Gloria Grahame best as she could and she got it 3/4 right. There was only one Gloria and she was unqiue. This shows the sad last two years of her life when her career was pretty well over, but she had hopes of a comeback. She was living in the United Kingdom and hardly a big name any more.But whatever she had in the way of happiness came from a May/December romance with young actor Peter Turner played by Jamie Bell. It wasn't easy at times because Grahame still thought of herself as a big star. Lots of Norma Desmond in that woman.The two best scenes in the film are Gloria's meeting with her mother Vanessa Redgrave and a most jealous sister who tried and didn't have the career Gloria did. The classic has been versus a never was. The sister is played with real bite by Frances Barber. The second is Gloria with her doctor saying she had rejected chemotherapy because she was afraid of losing her hair and she wanted to be castable still. Offers were not really coming the late 70s.The ending is similar to Frances Farmer's end in Will There Ever Be A Morning, poignant and sad. Won't reveal, you have to see it and I defy anyone to have a dry eye.A great tribute to a great star.

Based on a true story: In the late 1970s, Hollywood star Gloria Grahame (Annette Bening) is in her fifties and performing in regional theatres in Great Britain. She hooks up with Peter Tanner (Jamie Bell), another actor who is a generation younger than she is.Both Bening and Bell are powerful in their roles especially Bening. Whether she is doing strange verbal exercises to prepare for a performance or showing signs of declining health, she is moving and easily draws in the viewer. She is fully believable as someone who can be very naive while drawing sympathy and understanding. Bell also has a powerful scene when he is receiving difficult news on the telephone. As the viewer cannot hear what is being said on the other line, he makes it very clear with each gesture just how bad the news is.Peter's family also provides warmth, welcoming Gloria as a part of the family without batting an eye at the age difference between the lovers. As the family matriarch, the wonderful Julie Walters is a beacon of kindness.Where the film weakens is in the connection between the two lovers. While the actors are great individually, they don't fully connect together. There is a scene in which Peter fights with his brother over how the family should handle their ailing guest. The scene was forced, unbelievable, and over-the-top.Yet the movie is still worth seeing. With all the debate about how women are treated in the film industry, this film deserves credit for giving a substantial leading role in a feature film (not one immediately relegated to television) to a talented, experienced actress over fifty (keep in mind Bening also starred in last year's "20th Century Women").

Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2017) was directed by Paul McGuigan. The star of the movie is Annette Bening, who portrays the actor Gloria Grahame. Those of us who remember Gloria Grahame on the screen remember her just as director McGuigan remembers her. She was beautiful and sexy. Every leading man desired her, often to their peril. She was an Academy Award winner.In the movie, Grahame is ill and returns to a house in Liverpool where she had stayed when she was younger. She's no longer a star--just a woman who is able to hang on because some people remember when she was a marquee name.The film is melodramatic, and Liverpool looks dark and forlorn. Still, it's worth seeing the movie to watch Bening act. She inhabits the role of Grahame, and I believe Bening could see the possibility of her own career ending up like Grahame's career.We saw this movie at Rochester's wonderful Little Theatre. It will work well on the small screen. The film has a dismal 6.9 IMDb rating. It's better than that. See it and decide for yourself.