"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.
"Bel Ami" Review by On The Box
Disappointingly, it’s not the biography of everyone’s favourite bearded botanist or the story of Teignmouth’s favourite son, but Robert Pattinson’s new anti-morality tale set in the hedonistic heights of late 19th century Paris. But while it boasts an all-star cast and some lavish costume design, it, like its protagonist, is vapid, shallow and ultimately with little to recommend it.
Pattinson plays George Duroy, an impoverished and near illiterate ex-soldier who is taken under the wing of a former comrade Charles Forestier (Philip Glenister) who happens to be the political editor of a fashionable Parisian magazine.
Handed a job writing a “the diary of a cavalryman” despite having no writing ability, he’s fortunate to make the acquaintance of Forestier’s wife Madeleine (Uma Thurman), who not only writes his column for him but also shares a nugget of wisdom – that if he really wants to get ahead, he’s better off currying favour with powerful men’s wives than the men themselves.
Taking that advice to heart, Duroy begins to seduce the women of Paris using his charm and good looks as a substitute for talent (of which he has none) and slowly begins his climb up the social ladder.
Pattinson fits the bill perfectly – he’s a good looking man who’s been honing his brooding skills to a fine art since 2008’s Twilight. But with very little dialogue, he’s mostly relegated to scowling while women unaccountably throw themselves at him. Very rarely do we get a sense that he’s a cunning schemer and he comes across as more a lucky fool who has good things perpetually thrust upon him.
Consequently, Duroy isn’t a compelling character. He’s unlikeable not because his actions are reprehensible (in fact anti-heroes can make the most engaging protagonists) but because he does nothing to deserve his good fortune. He has none of the cunning nous or delicious Machiavellian manipulation of John Malkovlch’s Vicomte de Valmont in Dangerous Liaisons – still the pinnacle of French-penned social deviousness.
The greatest pleasure is his on-off relationship with Clothilde (Ricci), which comes closest to probing the depths that lie beneath his vacant eyes. But Bel Ami is oddly passionless for a film which hinges on bedroom antics as much as it does – there’s no spark of feeling at all between Madeleine or the older desperate Madame Rousette (Kristin Scott Thomas).
Bel Ami is curiously probably more relevant today than it was when it was penned – after all, in this age more than in any other, it’s easy to get ahead with good looks and little talent. However, even a stellar cast can’t lift a story which is as soulless and as empty as its protagonist.
"Bel Ami" Review by Coventry Telegraph
(15, 102 mins) Romance/Drama. Robert Pattinson, Uma Thurman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Christina Ricci, Philip Glenister, Holliday Grainger, Colm Meaney, Natalia Tena. Directors: Declan Donnellan, Nick Ormerod
ROBERT Pattinson hones the mournful pout of his vampire from the Twilight saga in this tepid adaptation of the 19th century novel by Guy de Maupassant.
He dabbles with the dark side once again, playing an amoral journalist who clambers up the social ladder in Belle Epoque Paris by sleeping with neglected wives and daughters of the men who wield power.
It's another valiant attempt by Pattinson to step away from his signature role as brooding Edward Cullen but directors Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod will be hoping that older tween audiences flock to this lustful yarn.
The promise of copious sex and a shirtless male lead should guarantee decent box office returns this weekend but the lack of palpable eroticism on screen quickly dampens our ardour.
If Bel Ami is hoping to arouse passions like Dangerous Liaisons, it fails, lacking a script laden with tantalising sexual promise or tour-de-force performances from an impressive ensemble cast.
Georges Duroy (Robert Pattinson) harks from lowly stock and arrives in 1890s Paris with barely two francs to rub together.
He is taken under the wing of friend Charles Forestier (Philip Glenister), who lands the ambitious upstart a position on a newspaper and introduces him to the elegant drawing rooms where his wife Madeleine (Uma Thurman) and friends Virginie Walter (Kristin Scott Thomas) and Clotilde de Marelle (Christina Ricci) hold court.
Dressed in a jacket paid out of Charles's deep pockets, Georges surmises that if he is to gain a foothold in polite society, he must seduce these women and exploit their influence.
"Bel Ami" Review by Total Film
When Robert Pattinson met Marion Cotillard in Cannes and told her he was doing a film of Guy de Maupassant’s classic French novel she expressed bemusement: “But why make it in English?”
It’s one of many questions viewers may ask when watching the 11th adaptation of a ruthless tale of Parisian Belle Epoque sexual/social climbing that has potential to be an erotic, unrepentant parallel to modern tabloid fame (Simon Fuller helped finance the project after all) and a revelatory role for Twilight’s heartthrob.
Instead, it ends up a beautiful but muddled re-do with RP accents crossed with French pronunciation (“I say, Monsieur Forestière!”). Full marks to Pattinson for tearing into his Edward Cullen persona with plenty of arse-bearing sex scenes and peevishness, but he often falls back on nostril flaring to convey the subtleties of the seduction, avarice, rage and duplicity that drives his character.
That said, both he and the production (directed by Nick Ormerod and Declan Donnellan) are handsome creatures, ably supported by a classy cast who add emotional resonance.
Kristin Scott Thomas is the wounded heart of the piece, elegant and needy as a pious wife sexually corrupted by Pattinson’s Duroy in his quest to reach her powerful hubby. Christina Ricci brings the necessary sizzle as adulterous minx Clotilde, while Uma Thurman, playing Duroy’s wife, is notable mostly for her alarming Thatcher-esque baritone.
Larkrise To Candleford screenwriter Rachel Bennette does well to condense Duroy’s sexual plundering to key scenes, but fails to express his self-serving, callous motivation, making him by turns apologetic or simply stroppy. And has a luxurious gestation meant over-zealous editing?
The narrative is sometimes jumbled, while a scene where a character wraps her hair around Duroy’s buttons is left unexplained.
A lush period romp then, that’ll thrill R-Pattz devotees and bodice-buster fans, but a toothless adaptation of biting source material. Cotillard may not approve.
Verdict:
A good-looking yet curiously tame adaptation of a saucy classic that showcases Pattinson’s ambition if not his full abilities.
"Bel Ami" Review by Time Out London
Robert Pattinson steps into the shoes of antihero Georges Duroy for this lively if muddled adaptation of Guy de Maupassant’s 1885 novel, directed by Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod, known for their theatre company Cheek By Jowl. Duroy is a likeable rogue in a world of scoundrels, an ex-soldier on his uppers in Paris who crosses the threshold of the chattering classes when he meets an old acquaintance, journalist Charles Forestier (Philip Glenister), who introduces him to a web of high-class intrigue that stretches from the boardroom to the bedroom. It’s in the latter that Duroy excels, and he exercises his charms on Forestier’s wife Madeleine (Uma Thurman), and her two friends, fun-loving Clothilde (Christina Ricci) and older, vulnerable Madame Rousset (Kristin Scott Thomas), the wife of a powerful editor.
As a whirlwind of bonking and banquets, ‘Bel Ami’ is diverting and sometimes amusing, and Pattinson is adequate in the lead – pretty enough to convince as a womaniser but with enough of a hint of ambition and a moral vacuum behind the eyes. His scenes with Ricci have an attractive sense of abandon to them, but the other two women make little sense beyond superficial tics. There are serious themes afoot concerning backroom dealing in politics and media, but these are never brought out by Donnellan and Ormerod, who rush through the material with little time for thought and zero sense that anything is at stake. This ‘Bel Ami’ is spirited and sensible but little more than period fluff.
Source: PattyStewBone City
Just wait for the female fan reviews in the United States! & the box office numbers :)