ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies

TRUE LIFE is frequently more fascinating and disturbing than anything from a screenwriter’s imagination as we discover in Savage Grace. Tom Kalin’s spare, claustrophobic drama takes its inspiration from the life and brutal death of 1940s socialite Barbara Daly.

It is told with a sense of style and wit that manages to stretch a modest budget into a substantial feature film. It also boasts a fearless and compelling performance from Julianne Moore.

Barbara Daly was a woman who seemed to have it all. In 1940s New York, she was the toast of the town, basking in a happy marriage to dashing Brooks Baekeland (Stephen Dillane) and the birth of a beautiful baby boy. The film unfolds in six scenes covering twenty years and charting the collapse of that marriage and the growing bond of affection with son Tony (Eddie Redmayne) that was to prove so fatally unhealthy for both mother and son.

Savage Grace sounds as if it should belong to the Mommie Dearest school of melodrama. Tom Kalin avoids that by stripping the story back to its key moments and essential emotions. This isn’t a full picture of the family but a charcoal sketch of the madness and privilege that would end in bloody murder.

The experimental nature of the film means that it is definitely not for all tastes. If you like American cinema to challenge and unsettle you then it is a dark, uneasy little tale with a notable performance from Moore as a woman cast adrift from the boundaries and structure of a normal family life.

Selected national release

Director: Tom Kalin
Cast: Julianne Moore, Stephen Dillane, Eddie Redmayne, Hugh Dancy, Anne Reid
Screenwriters: Howard A Rodman based on the book by Natalie Robins and Steven M L Aronson
Certificate: 18
Running time: 87 mins
Country: USA
Year: 2007

© Allan Hunter, 2008