Gloria Grahame was indeed a movie star of a certain caliber in Hollywood, and if there is anyone who can play her properly, it is Annette Bening, as she proves in “Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool.”
Bening conveys the romantic impulses and heartache involving Graham after she was long past her prime and in England trying to keep up her status by appearing on stage. It was also a period in which she became fatally ill.
The film, directed by Paul McGuigan from a screenplay by Matt Greenhalgh based on a memoir by Peter Turner, depicts Grahame in her romance with Turner, an actor who was very much younger. The film is given a lift by the portrayal of Turner by Jamie Bell, who has matured into an excellent leading man from the days when he was a youthful star in “Billy Elliot.”
Turner, in a rekindled relationship, is asked by Grahame, to take her to his family home in Liverpool, where they can stay with his sympathetic mother, played by the excellent Julie Walters. The screenplay at one point flashes back to Hollywood when we see Vanessa Redgrave as Grahame’s disapproving mother, along with Grahame’s jealous sister, portrayed snidely by Frances Barber.
We know, of course, that the illness Grahame refuses to recognize as life-threatening will turn out to be fatal. Yes, she doesn’t die in Liverpool, but in the last throes of cancer she is taken back to the U.S.
Looking into the phase of Grahame’s life depicted here is an odd mix. At times the romance with Turner is colorful, even electric. But the film is also one of those sagging sagas that is predictable and drawn out. Fortunately the acting is excellent all around, and that is the film’s saving grace.
Bening doesn’t attempt a direct impersonation of Grahame, although she does manage to suggest the voice of the actress, who once won an Oscar. It was for “The Bad and the Beautiful,” worth seeing again to get the real-life flavor of Grahame’s talent. But as a stand-in, Bening does very nicely in this thoughtful tribute. A Sony Pictures Classics release. Reviewed December 29, 2017.