Based on Guy de Maupassant’s famous 19th century novel of the same name, the story of Bel Ami centers on a young Parisian named Georges Duroy (Robert Pattinson), who has just come back home after a military service in Algeria. Upon returning, he has a chance meeting with his former comrade Charles Forestier (Philip Glenister), who offers him a writing job at a well-respected newspaper. From here, Duroy gains a taste for power, and latches on to it, desperate for more.
Forestier invites him to dinner, and here he is introduced to three sophisticated women. They are Madeleine Forestier (Uma Thurman), Madame Walter (Kristin Scott Thomas), and Clotilde de Marelle (Christina Ricci). Each of these ladies are very different from each other, but Duroy seduces them all with his boyish charm, using them for his own gain. He eventually makes his mark even on the powerful newspaper editor, Rousset (Colm Meaney), becoming an integral part of the boss’s circle.
If you’re a part of the Twilight fandom as we are, you’ve no doubt heard people/blogs referring to The Huger Games as the next ‘Twilight’. Usually followed by the typical ‘Character v Character’ battles, and the ever popular ‘Who’d Win In A Fight?’
Frankly, you cant get away from it. “Why is everyone comparing them???” you ask, “They’re two totally different things!”
I screamed and jumped at the chance to go to a screening. I decided to check it out.
A plotless tale of Parisian adultery, debut directors Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod’s adaptation of Guy de Maupassant’s classic novel Bel Ami certainly boasts some fine performances, but leaves us with nothing else.
It is 1890 and ex-cavalry officer Georges Duroy (Robert Pattinson) arrives in Paris having completed three years military service in Algeria, looking for a well-paid job. On one of his frequent visits to a Parisian brothel he meets former comrade Forester, and with the phrase ‘come and meet my wife’, Duroy begins to ascend the social ladder, landing himself a job at Forester’s newspaper ‘La Vie Francais’. The wife Madeleine (Uma Thurman) and her two friends Clotilde (Christina Ricci) and Virginie (Kristin Scott Thomas) fall for Georges immediately and take him under their wings as their ‘Bel Ami’.
It’s pretty daring to take Robert Pattinson, the most fanciable young actor of his generation, and cast him alongside actresses of the calibre of Kristin Scott Thomas, Uma Thurman and Christina Ricci. But it’s a risk that pays off here as his performance takes this retelling of Guy de Maupassant’s tale of sex and ambition to another level. As thrilling as it is sumptuous, the first feature from theatre directors Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod brings Paris at the turn of the 20th century to vibrant life, as handsome, brutish social climber Georges Duroy (Pattinson) plunders and blunders his way around the women of powerful men. The stunning production design frames Duroy’s amorality as it unfolds like a rotten flower, and Pattinson has never looked more irresistible or dangerous. Thurman, especially, is a revelation – literally finding a new quality to her voice as the influential and wealthy Madeleine Forestier. A hauntingly beautiful triumph of content over style, this isDangerous Liaisons meets Cruel Intentions with extra added credibility.
1. First part of the feature in better quality, and if you don’t want to watch the review. (click 720p HD)
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2. Full video. Review at 2.45. The woman is pretty tough on the script and character, the guy is more complimentary about Rob. (remember, reviews are just personal opinions, go see it and decide for yourself.)
The year is 1890 and a young soldier, Georges Duroy, returns to France from the battlefields of Algeria. He’s played by Twilight‘s Robert Pattinson, who revels in the opportunity to shed his pin-up image and embark on a bonk-a-thon through the Parisian elite.
Pattinson’s most famous screen character Edward Cullen may sustain himself on blood, but there’s something equally vampiric about his portrayal of Duroy – a man with cold, darting eyes whose unquenchable thirst is for power and status. Driven by a life in poverty, Duroy’s chance encounter with old army colleague Charles Forestier (Philip Glenister) leads him into higher social circles and a job as a newspaper writer (despite being barely literate).
A great Bel Ami review from Whatsonstage.com. Here’s an excerpt:
Bel Ami is a sumptuous transposition to the screen (by no means the first) of Guy de Maupassant’s fin de siecle Parisian novel starring Robert Pattinson as Georges Duroy, the dissolute French soldier who rises to the top of society and journalism by the simple expedient of sleeping with the wives of his employers.
It’s a deeply sour tale of having your cake and eating it, and it’s beautifully played and sumptuously costumed. And you can’t fail to notice in these rocky days for newspaper ethics, that Georges moves sideways from his diary of a cavalryman in the Algerian war to head of gossip on the broadsheet; he draws a line, though, at taking his share of the profits when war-mongering becomes a sort of insider trading.
As a debut movie, and made for the comparative pittance of nine million euros, it’s almost indecently good and highly accomplished. And although Pattinson twitches his nostrils a little too often, he’s spot on as the louche lothario.
5 must-watch March movies: Bel Ami, John Carter, Hunger Games and more
If you’re expecting a leisurely month for movies in March then think again, because the next 31 days are packed full of exciting treats for cinema fans. Twilight’s Robert Pattinson will get down and dirty for the sex-stuffed Bel Ami, while spring will hold a mini-blockbuster season of its own with the debut of Disney’s sci-fi epic John Carter and the eagerly-awaited action film The Hunger Games.
Digital Spy previews five must-see movies for March below:
Bel Ami
Release Date: March 9
Why you should see it: Robert Pattinson may not have been the most prolific cinematic bed-hopper as Twilight’s chaste vampire Edward Cullen, but that all changes in this steamy adaptation of Guy de Maupassant’s French novel. R-Patz plays a young man who climbs the Parisian social ladder by sleeping with Christina Ricci, Uma Thurman and Kristen Scott Thomas.
I’m actually pretty conflicted as to how to feel about ‘Bel Ami’, an intermittently effective and highly sexed adaptation of Guy de Maupassant’s 19th century novel co-directed by British theatre directors Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod. It’s a little verbose in places and features either too much or too little of the book’s politics (I’m not sure which), yet it’s pretty enough to look at and features some cracking supporting actors. In it ‘Twilight’ star Robert Pattinson takes the central role of Georges Duroy – an ambitious and spiteful man who rises Barry Lyndon-style from poverty to the pinnacle of Parisian high-society through self-delusion and amorality.
For the first half-hour I sat convinced that Pattinson had been miscast: aside from looking a little too young for a war veteran (one whose peers all seem to be middle aged), Pattinson’s permanent snarl and the infinite emptiness of his eyes seem to make a mockery of the fact that his character inspires so much amorous affection – even if we’re well aware he engenders this reaction from the ladies off-camera. Yet this seems to be precisely the point, making Pattinson an inspired choice: the ladies like Georges because he is pretty, but actually he is an empty vessel. Lazy, petty, illiterate, lacking social graces and disloyal, French high-society assumes something lies behind his eyes that simply isn’t there. The jury is out on whether Pattinson has much range as an actor, but he makes for an oddly compelling Georges.
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