Bel Ami   Starring: Robert Pattinson, Uma Thurman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Christina Ricci, Colm Meaney and Anthony Higgins Studiocanal RRP: £19.99 OPTD2017 Certificate: 15 Available 23 July 2012

Georges Duroy returns to Paris with few prospects. However, manipulating the wives of rich men starts his rise to power. Amoral and unprincipled it looks like nothing will be able to stop him...

Bel Ami (2012 - 1 hr, 38 min, 07 sec) is a historical drama, directed by Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod, the film is based on the second novel by Guy de Maupassant and is the first movie made by a pair, who have been active in theatre, which might explain some of the faults the film has.

I am not adverse to a bit of bodice ripping, but Bel Ami removes all the passion out of the story to provide a very limp wristed hour and a half entertainment. It’s difficult to know what is missing, certainly the majority of the cast are well known,

With no great dramas to raise it up, that which exists feels as muted as the majority of the film. And, with no humour to break the flow, the film feels tonally the same throughout. Robert Pattinson does not yet have the screen presence to carry the film and totally engage the audience. What should have been a character of extraordinary selfishness comes over as a spoilt and ineffectual, making it difficult to empathise with his plight. Which is a kind of roundabout way of saying the film looks great, but is a little boring.

His leading ladies Uma Thurman (Madeleine Forestier), Kristin Scott Thomas (Virginie Rousset) and Christina Ricci (Clotilde de Marelle) do better than Pattinson and they highlight the only interesting idea in the film: that women, who have been marginalised and disenfranchised, existing as they did at the edge of a male dominated society actually have access to wealth and information which would be useful to an unscrupulous young man.

Although Pattinson carries much of the film, both Colm Meaney (Monsieur Rousset) and Philip Glenister (Charles Forestier) put in good performances.

I guess the film's main fault is that it skips thorough Maupassant’s story and the edited highlight feeling that this leaves removes the level of depth that the film actually required. Duroy is driven by the fear of poverty and will do anything to avoid this, but apart from some shabby clothes at the start of the film we are never exposed to any images of poverty, so his motivation is watered down. This is not helped by the fact that the film also presents a fairly sterilised view of nineteenth century Paris. Possibly a grubbier version would have given the audience some understanding where the character had originated from, which in turn would have gone some way to validate his drive towards power and money, at any cost.

The picture of the DVD is sharp, displaying the rich reds, oranges and yellows, which are the film's primary pallet. There are options for English 2.0 Stereo, DD 5.1, with both the inclusion of an audio description and subtitles.

On the extras front we have interviews with the directors (12 min, 20 sec), Robert Pattinson (9 min, 26 sec), Uma Therman (7 min, 41 sec), Kristin Scott Thomas (7 min, 30 sec) and Christina Ricci (6 min, 43 sec). Most are worth a single look, but given their length you’ll not find much depth here. Behind the Scenes (6 min) is another low level piece with shots from the film and quotes from the cast. The trailer (1 min, 57 sec) sneaks in, at the end, to complete the package.

6

Charles Packer