"Bel Ami" Review by MSN Movies

"Bel Ami" Review by MSN Movies

Release date: 9 March 2012

Certificate: 15

Directors: Declan Donnellan, Nick Ormerod

Starring: Robert Pattinson, Uma Thurman, Kristin Scott Thomas

What's the story?

In 1890s Paris, penniless ex-soldier turned journalist Georges Duroy (Pattinson) works his way up the social ladder by seducing the wives of politicians as they secretly plot a Moroccan invasion.

What did we think?

RPattz seems ill at ease and out of his depth in a handsome period piece that requires him to be charismatic, calculating and irresistible. That he merely comes across as dull and sullen makes his character hard to care about, though his leading ladies do partly compensate for his deficiencies.

British movie goers have been flocking to see The Woman in Black, Daniel Radcliffe's first big-screen vehicle since exiting the Harry Potter franchise. If Bel Ami is anything to go by, however, Twilight's Robert Pattinson will have a much trickier time moving on from the blockbuster film series around which his career revolves.

Put simply, the role of amoral arriviste Georges Duroy in this latest film version of the 1885 Guy de Maupassant novel requires a lead with far more dramatic heft and chops than the 25-year-old can currently boast. Pouting when he should sizzle and frowning when he should emote, RPattz often seems a mere passenger on his own star vehicle - not so much the John Malkovich of these Dangerous Liaisons as their Keanu Reeves.

The women fare better in this debut feature from celebrated theatre directors Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod, Christina Ricci bringing a pert sauciness to adulterous minx Clotilde and Kristin Scott Thomas lending a tragic neediness to ageing socialite Virginie. But Uma Thurman is as miscast as Pattinson as the manipulative Madeleine in a film whose surface opulence masks a hollow void. All in all, la Belle Epoque was much more fun in Midnight in Paris.

Source => MSN Movies / Via => Spunk Ransom