Bel Ami (2012)

terrible... so disappointed.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Talking to a friend recently about films she was keen on taking a look at,I got told about an interesting-sounding Costume Drama starring Robert Pattinson.With having recently been impressed by Pattinson's performance in the gritty Post-Apocalypse film The Rover,I decided that it was the perfect time to uncover The History of a Scoundrel.The plot:Paris 1890-Penniless since he left the battle field, soldier Georges Duroy is happy to run into his wealthy old friend Charles Forestier.Sad to see how poor his friend has become,Forestier decides to invite Duroy to stay with him and his wife Mrs. Madeleine Forestier.Taken by Duroy's charms,Madeleine introduces Duroy to her friends Clotilde de Marelle & Virginie Rousset.Learning that Charles now edits a newspaper,Duroy decides to take advantage of Madeleine and her pals attraction to him,as Duroy sets his sights on leaving his penniless life behind.View on the film:Whilst some of the dialogue sounds far too modern for late 1800s Paris, Rachel Bennette's adaptation of Guy de Maupassant's novel,does well at painting a cruel atmosphere,thanks to Bennette showing the desire for power to be the fuel behind all of Georges Duroy's relationships.Taking a slightly anthology style approach to each of Duroy's liaisons, Bennette is disappointingly unable to give the relationships any feeling of depth,due to Bennette giving the characters an outline which is only skin deep,which also causes Duroy's rise to power to feel rather abrupt,and not reaching the dark dramatic notes that the film desires.Transferring from the stage to the cinema, directors Nick Ormerod & Declan Donnellan superbly use deep rich blues to show the riches that Duroy is gathering for himself,which are haunted by a dark charcoal blacks,which are slowly draped over the film,as Duroy discovers the lies behind his riches.Along with the strong blues & blacks,the directors also give the movie an elegant sheen of light greens and yellows,which make the surprisingly graphic sex scenes sparkle.Surrounded by a dazzling array of girls, (all of whom look stunning,esp when naked!) Robert Pattinson (who makes sure that it is not all one-sided,by also appearing naked in the film) gives a very good performance as Georges Duroy,thanks to Pattinson showing Duroy's swagger to be one that hides a fear over returning to the bottom of the ladder.Giving Duroy a major bed/step up to power, Uma Thurman gives a wonderful performance as Madeleine Forestier,with Thurman bringing a dominating sass out of Forestier,as Duroy discovers that he has become a scoundrel of history.

Veteran stage-directors Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod's debut is an underrated classic. Stella performances from an eye-popping cast (and in Uma Thurman's case some fairly eye popping wardrobe too.) Kirsten Scott-Thomas playing against type in a at once hilarious and terrifying portrayal and Thurman and Ricci no less good playing the hero's other potential love matches. But it's Pattinson who is the revelation, in his first really serious role, beginning his movements into more interesting territory such as the Cronenberg collaboration. Sadly at the time of writing Pattinson hasn't quite managed to break free of his fantasy origins in the manner of someone like Daniel Radcliffe, but this outing shows that he has the potential should he continue to chose his work wisely.What strikes one so clearly is how stuffed full of life this adaptation is. Whether it's the exuberance of the débutant directors or simply just a canny eye for the details, every extra, every inch of every scene is alive with the sort of movement and vitality which is often so woefully missing from this sort of work. Instead one gets the sense that if the camera were to turn the other way, and look into a different office, street, boudoir or brothel room, then life would still be going on just as richly.Perfectly captured too is the book's wry comedic tone, a cutting satire which at once delights and also chills, exposing the ever present malaise wrought by over privilege and those who are "on- the-make."It's no surprise that Bel Ami is shown endlessly in continental Europe and Russia, although strangely neglected by UK and US TV. I suspect that once Donnellan/Ormerod's oeuvre is better known by Anglo-Saxon audiences (are they making another movie soon?) then Bel Ami will take it's rightful place on TV schedules and on-demand...

The movie well depicts a time of separation of the poor and rich with great scene visuals and costuming. I enjoyed the Twilight series with Rob and his brief part in Harry Potter. His closeups are good and show the emotions of the rags to riches and not so honest fellow. The leading actresses are good and I feel the story went a little slow with too much mischief shown rather than the artful editorial writing dialog for the newspaper. I checked this movie out on DVD from the local library. I also like the soundtrack. Believe the R rating though it is not surprising for the time period depicted. I think it is interesting there is dismay at some modern themes when historical works show us this type of display.

I'm one of the few (straight) guys in the world that actually enjoys Robert Pattinson's movies - not a Twilight fan by any means but just because he did those movies does not label him as a bad actor in my book. I enjoyed some of his other movies including "Remember Me" and "Water for Elephants". Also I like him because I think he separates himself well from the Twilight films well, he doesn't seem to milk his popularity from those movies, he is always working on new projects. With that being said I seen this movie on Showtime and decided to give it a shot. Bel Ami, the name of the movie and the main character, is about a low-life, poor guy that makes his way up in the world by seducing women of powerful, rich men.First off the positives - the soundtrack, camera work, and overall aesthetics of the movie are great. The wardrobe is attractive and convincing, the set design is nice, and overall the visuals were nice. Secondly the acting was great. Robert Pattinson put on a convincing show with good drama acting while supporting roles by the legendary DS9 actor Colm Meaney and actresses like Christina Ricci and Uma Thurman were nothing short of great.Now for the big flop - the "story telling" of the movie. I'm not sure it's the story itself - more so the movie felt like it was "pasted" together in Apple Movie Editor Pro. It didn't feel like the story was told in a good way. The story is hard to understand, some parts of the movie felt rushed, other parts felt too slow. For such a great cast with a great list of actors the storyline just wasn't told in a convincing and conclusive way. I think this movie would be better understood by those who read the book that supposedly exist for "Bel Ami".Overall I'm disappointed by this movie. This could have been a great, underdog low-budget film. It seemed like it was heading that direction, but by the end the story just wasn't told in a great way. Worth a watch if you haven't seen it already but I would wait for the bargain bin edition if you want to pick up a physical copy. Below average film unfortunately.