(rated R) There appears to be a thin line in the behavior of an actor from stage to real life performance. It’s London circa 1930s in the posh area of Mayfair and sometimes Piccadilly, where Julia (Annette Benning) a huge star, grows bored with her fame and success. Julia’s behavior would give New York’s Page Six scandal sheets a run for their money, always happy to air her needs, desires, flings and affairs in public. When the going gets rough, this lovely beer drinking, leg spreading, tart, takes a new lover this time in the form of Tom (Shaun Evans) a wanna be social climber half her age, whose true love is Avice Crichton, a young desperate-to-be-an-understudy actress. Julia’s conscience is Jimmy (Michael Gambon) her deceased acting coach – sort of a “ghost of acting past” who even looks like Scrooge. Like all true actors, the ghost of Jimmy coaches a thin line between acting and real life of Julia’s antics, often seeming like one in the same. Funny how Jeremy Irons is underused in his role as Julia’s noble husband, since this movie of an older woman with a too-young-man-she-falls-desperately-in-love-with, has a “Lolita” feel meets something like “Dangerous Liaisons”. Witty and sophisticated, a must see by anyone appreciative of social climbing, society games or classic British snobbery yet politely sexy and very satisfying. Benning’s big comeback role has Oscar written all over it and it’s fabulous to see the power of an older woman outwit the young blonde bombshell.
