BEL AMI (2012)

Genre: Drama/Romance
Director: Declan Donnellan, Nick Ormerod
Cast: Robert Pattinson, Uma Thurman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Christina Ricci, Colm Meaney, Philip Glenister, Holliday Grainger, James Lance
Runtime: 1 hr 42 mins
Rating: M18 (Some Sexual Scenes & Nudity)
Released By: Encore Films & GV
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 29 March 2012

Synopsis: "Bel Ami", based on the short story by Guy de Maupassant, is an erotically charged tale of ambition, power and seduction which chronicles the rise of Georges Duroy from poverty into the 'beau monde' of 1890's Paris. Using his wits and powers of seduction, Duroy moves from a prostitute's embrace to passionate trysts with wealthy beauties who inhabit where sex is power and celebrity an obsession, and where politics and media jostle for influence.

Movie Review:

Bel Ami is the adaptation of the novel of the same title by French author Guy de Maupassant. It chronicles rise of Georges Duroy (Robert Pattinson) rise to power from a poor ex-soldier to one of the most successful men in Paris, mostly accomplished by using his only available talent, seduction.

The film opens with Duroy trawling in a bar-brothels of Paris and his reunion with gruff but generous Forestier (Philp Glenister) with whom he served as a soldier in North America and who now wields control of a powerful newspaper. At dinner, Duroy is introduced to Forestier’s wife Madeleine (Uma Thurman), chief editor Rousser (Colm Meaney), his wife (Scott Thomas) and their married friend Clotilde (Christina Ricci). The evening results in a job as writer at the newspaper, Madeleine as a mentor and the promise of adulterous fun with Clotilde.

However, Duroy soon learns that it is easier to make a fortune by exploiting the influence and loneliness of these women. His self-serving campaign is mirrored by Forestier and Rousset who seek to get rich(er) by backing the French government’s sneaky plan to invade Morocco. The politics, unfortunately, are quite dull and flat.

Robert Pattinson is adequate as George Duroy, but not impressive. Without his fake fangs (which, unjustly, get most of the blame for his lousy vocal expressions in The Twilight Saga), his articulation still need some more work. The female cast shines and is perhaps the only saving grace of the film. Thurman gives a convincing and engaging performance as Madeleine, Ricci lightens up the mood effortlessly and Scott Thomas is undeniably splendid. Unfortunately, Pattinson’s limited facial expressions where he twitches his lips and arches his eyebrows are deployed to amusing effect and it’s very difficult to see why these women would be captivated by a man of such obvious emptiness and tiresome petulance, not to mention who is also short on conversation skills, social graces and virility.

First-time directors Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod have directed mostly for the London theatres and it shows in the slow and stateliness of the film’s pace. In the final act, as Duroy failed to sparkle under the sun like Edward Cullen in New Moon, the very last hope of Bel Ami amounting to anything that dazzles also sizzled away as quietly and uneventfully as the rest of the film.

Movie Rating:

(Using Medeleine’s words “I had no conception of the depths of your emptiness” and it is indeed hard to be mesmerised by this dull and boring Bel Ami)

Review by Sing Swee Leong