Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Fresh and Exciting

Excellent but underrated film

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Spectacular, seductive, powerful and impressive. A beautiful script and an extraordinary cast. Annette Bening in one of most remarkable creation. A magnificent show, with taste of lost era, with strong recipes and joy of play. A film about mirror of life. Art, love, seduction and cruel games as ingredients of a cake with a very intelligent flavor in which cinnamon an pepper, hot chili and cream are ingredients. A chocolate cake. For mind and for the chance to find a intelligent story about the basic things of marriage and every competition. "All about Eve" and Shakespeare comedies in same package.So, must see it!

I am not a person to watch movie a lot, and you don't have to be a fan of this movie. i just picked this movie from library to do my presentation in class.This a really romantic, comedy and exciting movie that made me to watch it five times. Julia was a real famous, pretty actress woman that showed to her audience who really getting old that age is not a reason to give up. The point of the movie was save your confidence in any age because after she found out "Avice" who took her two love men she started to make herself strong to show her she is not a person to put her down in her life."Being Julia" is a delightful tale about theatrical life, manipulation, love and revenge.

This is a story about insiders in a theater in London in 1938. In particular it's about Julia Lambert (Annette Benning) and how she deals with a challenge of being sidelined in her career by middle age. When your livelihood and self identity depend to a great extent on physical appearance aging must be particularly difficult. So, one wonders to what extent Benning, who was in her mid-forties when she filmed this, is playing a part and to what extent she is playing herself. And that is the basic theme of this movie - when can you tell whether Julia is acting or when she is being truthful. Does *she* even know. More generally, we are all actors; in a given day how often do we speak what is really on our minds? How easy is it for us to determine the real thoughts of our friends? This film brings those questions to mind.With the exception of Shaun Evans, playing an all too innocent, star-struck young American who improbably strikes up an affair with Julia, the actors turn in good performances. Jeremy Irons, who plays Julia's husband, is atypically without his usual existential angst. I particularly liked Juliet Stevenson who plays Julia's knowing dresser with great believability. I suppose, given the story line, this is an actor's movie and certainly without the fine cast there would not be much to recommend this slight story.The period setting is nicely done with the old cars, hair styles, clothes, and so on. There are some scenes, like a large dance, that can excite the imagination. I would have thought that by 1938 the rise of Nazi Germany would have been mentioned more than once, and even that mention being rather naive (or was that meant to be ironic?)

SPOILERS:I'd wanted to see this for some time and I'm glad I finally did. It was kind of an enchanting little film, witty and fun and kind of an homage to the theater in general.The two things that really stand out are, number one, the glamor of the film. Of coarse, period films, if their done well, really envelop one in the time period the movie is taking place in. In Being Julia, the film is not just an homage to the stage, it also kind of celebrates the films of yesterday, that one really doesn't see these days. The music was absolutely perfect as well. I can say that I, more often then not, see very modern films however this movie made me kind of reminiscent to see older films even though I generally don't see a lot of them anyway. But that is one of the movie's strengths. It's nice to see a period film that sets the atmosphere so well.The second thing that stands out is the performance of Annette Benning as the sassy Julia. I must say Annette Benning is, in my opinion, one of the best actresses working today and with every film I see her in, even if I don't love the movie, she bowls me over with her performance. Here is no different. I really want to see an Oscar for Ms. Benning soon.And of coarse Julia is such a fun character to watch! I just saw "The Devil Wears Prada" last week and I think Steep and Benning share some similarities. Like Streep, with Benning, it's not just the words but the facial expressions, the brief glances and such! I really doubt I'd have liked this movie as much without Benning in the lead role.The rest of the cast is good too but Benning steals the show and the movie's humor is biting but in a fun way. I would not say this was a movie I loved, for me it was more on the like a lot side but it's very definitely worth seeing.If there was anything I didn't like it's just that the movie moves slowly and though you get where it's going, it takes awhile to get there. Being Julia wasn't a movie I liked all that much right away, it sort of grows on you. A bit of patience is needed but it keeps getting better as it goes along and the ending is really fun and worth waiting for. Annette's best scenes are at the end, with the last stage scene being absolutely spectacular. The thing about Being Julia is it never really takes itself so seriously that the witty aspects are lost. It strikes a very good balance between the drama, the wit and the almost campy aspect.I would definitely recommend this, particularly to Benning fans, or people who love the stage. My vote's a 7.5 out of 10.