Special to The Morning Star
The Vernon Film Society will be screening its fourth film of the new year, Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, directed by Paul McGuigan, at the Vernon Towne Cinema March 26.
Do you ever wonder whatever happened to some of the film stars of old? Gloria Grahame won a best supporting actress Oscar for her role in 1952’s The Bad and the Beautiful. She was known for scandalous affairs with younger men and had four marriages in all.
After starring in films alongside Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum, Lana Turner and Kirk Douglas, to name a few, she faded away, but did not disappear. How she spent her later years is the subject of this rare ode to life after fame.
Annette Bening (The Kids Are Alright) plays Grahame, in as fine a performance as you will see this year. Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot) plays her lover Peter Turner, a young working-class English actor.
The director draws on Turner’s memoir for his narrative, embracing the highs and lows of Grahame’s time spent living in Liverpool in the 1970s. Grahame is in her fifties, but her vitality and eccentricity leave Turner, who is decades younger, enraptured by this new force in his life.
As the two embark on their romance, the audience follows them from England to Los Angeles, from stage to hospital, and from laughter to tears.
“There is no denying the emotional force that this film develops, and, for that, we can credit talented filmmakers and two stars working at the height of their powers,” wrote Stephan Farber, The Hollywood Reporter.
Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool will screen March 26 at the Vernon Towne Cinema at the regular times of 5:15 and 7:45 p.m. Tickets are available one week ahead at the theatre and the Bean Scene Coffee House for $7. Cash only. Rated PG.
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