Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool

When, in "Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool," we first meet Hollywood star Gloria Grahame (Annette Bening,) the year is 1981 and her movie career has been well and truly over for a couple of decades.�With her finances well drained she has had to resorted to taking any acting jobs she can, and is currently appearing in "The Glass Menagerie" in a theater in Lancaster, a provincial town in the North of England. However, when she is just about to go on stage, she collapses in her dressing room.

When she comes to Gloria asks that they contact Peter Turner (Jamie Bell), a young Brit actor with whom she had a brief affair that ended badly two years prior. He is literally the only person Gloria knows in the country, and she pleads with him to take her back to his parents' modest row house in Liverpool to recuperate from what she claims is just a bad case of "stomach gas."�

Both Peter and his parents (played by Julie Walters and Kenneth Cranham) soon figure out that Gloria is much sicker than she claims, and are not shocked when they discover that she had been previously diagnosed with cancer.

The story flashes back and forth between the time that Peter and Gloria were both living in the same London boarding house and and having a very happy love affair and the present time, when the illness has brought them close again. The back story emerges: After four failed marriages Gloria had embarked on a passionate affair with Peter, who is less than half her age; things fell apart when her secrecy about her illness became a trust issue, as she disappeared for days seeking medical treatment.

This real life story gives Bening a wonderful opportunity to portray an intriguing femme fatale type, which she excels at, before she has to shift gears and play a bed-ridden, dying character. It is the perfect role for her, and she imbues her compelling performance with such compassion and authenticity that she is a sheer joy to watch right to the last frame. The surprising element is the electrifying chemistry between the two lead actors, and his beautifully nuanced performance makes one appreciate how extraordinarily talented Bell is.�

Directed by�Paul McGuigan�from a script by�Matt Greenhalgh�and based on Peter Turner's own memoir, this vastly entertaining movie doesn't just address the question about whatever happened to the Oscar-winning Grahame; it also gives us a neat view of�life in 1980s Britain.�

P.S. - It was actually very surprising to discover that the production designer�Eve Stewart�was British, too, as we have never seen a normally cramped blue-collar row house have such big rooms. Guess that's what is called the magic of the movies.