"Bel Ami" Review by Saga (UK)

"Bel Ami" Review by Saga (UK)

Robert Pattinson, star of the Twilight films, takes the lead in this version of Guy de Maupassant’s 1885 novel as Georges Duroy, an ex-soldier who climbs the ladder of Parisian high society by seducing the wives of powerful men.

Duroy is unscrupulous, ambitious and apparently dripping with sexual magnetism, so young Pattinson is involved in bedroom liaisons with a series of older actresses: Kristin Scott-Thomas, Christina Ricci and Uma Thurman.

Still, the film is less than engaging. British stage directors Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod are making their debuts in film, and their stage background is sometimes apparent: Bel Ami often feels cramped and claustrophobic.

And Pattinson is a problem. He looks too much like a modern young man in a period role; his body language is too casual and informal for the chic social circles of the time. Despite the story’s topical themes - gossip, the influence of the press and its relationship to government – this is a misfire.

Source => Saga / Via => Spunk Ransom