Synopsis
This examination of a famous scandal from the 1970s explores the relationship between Barbara Baekeland and her only son, Antony. Barbara, a lonely social climber unhappily married to the wealthy but remote plastics heir Brooks Baekeland, dotes on Antony, who is homosexual. As Barbara tries to "cure" Antony of his sexuality -- sometimes by seducing him herself -- the groundwork is laid for a murderous tragedy.
Your Movie Library
Cast
- Julianne MooreBarbara Baekeland
- Stephen DillaneBrooks Baekeland
- Eddie RedmayneTony Baekeland
- Anne ReidNini Daly
- Elena AnayaBlanca
- Hugh DancySam Green
- Martin HubertyAschwin Lippe
- Minnie MarxMidge Vanden Heuvel
- Jim ArnoldJoost Vanden Heuvel
- Mapi GalánSimone Lippe
Recommendations
- 75
Rolling Stone
Money, madness, incest and murder! Just the recipe for a twisted mesmerizer of a movie, if it doesn't creep you out. - 70
The Hollywood Reporter
U.S. viewers may be put off by its tangled sexual motifs and find its implied social critique a little close to the bone. But even Stateside, Julianne Moore, in her most challenging role in years, will win plaudits and attract mature audiences to a thoroughly absorbing and polished piece of work. - 70
New York Magazine (Vulture)
Howard A. Rodman's script has a lot of juice, and the rhythms are so pregnant that the air vibrates with something, even if you're not sure what. - 67
Entertainment Weekly
The director, Tom Kalin, stages acid duels, but he should have provided more psychological structure. Though Moore, a great actress, turns fury into verbal music, we're never quite sure what's driving her. - 67
The A.V. Club
Savage Grace should have the force of Greek tragedy, but Kalin's chamber drama feels curiously stifling and flat, and Moore's volatile turn isn't enough to quicken its pulse. - 50
Variety
Scripter Howard A. Rodman's treatment of an enthralling book is more a series of vignettes rather than a fully connected work, and helmer Tom Kalin seems unable to decide how much Sirkian melodrama to introduce into the heady mix. Gone are the reasons to be fascinated with these people, merely replaced with maddeningly over-arch dialogue and struggles with characterization. - 50
TV Guide Magazine
Has everything one could ask of a true-crime expose. - 40
Film Threat
To be sure, it's a very pretty, well acted production; however, that doesn't make up for the fact that I hated every minute of it.
