Rated: M
Director: Sebastián Lelio
Story by: Gonzalo Maza
Screenplay by: Alice Johnson Boher, Sebastián Lelio
Produced by: Juan de Dios Larraín, Pablo Larraín, Sebastián Lello
Starring: Julianne Moore, John Turturro, Michael Cera, Brad Garrett, Sean Astin, Jeanne Tripplehorn, and Rita Wilson.
‘When the world ends, I hope I go down dancing.’
Gloria Bell (Juilanne Moore) is divorced with two grown children, Peter (Michael Cera) and Anne (Caren Pistorius).
She likes to go out dancing, disco dancing; she sings while driving her car; she worries about her son and grandchild, left by a partner who’s gone to find herself.
Everyone around her is struggling with something in their lives: work-buddy Melinda (Barbara Sukowa) realising she hasn’t saved enough money to retire, an upstairs neighbour having a breakdown, yelling incoherently. But Gloria dances.
When she meets Arnold (John Turturro) he asks her, ‘Are you always this happy?’ And she smiles because she likes him.
It’s a later-in-life romance with all the baggage that goes with it.
Arnold is the perfect part for John Turturro, those soulful eyes drawing Gloria in.
And Julian Moore surprises with her candour in her role as Julia – I’ve never seen her in a part with nudity.
The nudity of Gloria counts, to add to her exposure; her vulnerability.
There’s authenticity in the frailty and strength of Gloria, making her choices relatable.
I loved seeing her little rebellions – the drinking, the smoking; the risk. These are the moments that humanise the ex-wife and mother into an individual trying to make something for herself in life.
Gloria Bell isn’t one of those rom-com, uplifting romance films. This is a realistic portrayal of a beautiful, middle-aged woman that left me with an overriding feeling of sadness.
Sure, the soundtrack was all about the 80s and disco music like Gloria (Laura Branigan) and Total Eclipse of the Heart (Bonnie Tyler). But it was Gloria’s son playing the Prelude in D Minor by J. S. Bach that set the tone.
Life is tough. Love is hard. People are hard. But we keep going.
Gloria keeps going.
She keeps being true to herself even if it means giving into that quiet desperation. She accepts it and struggles through.
That’s what makes the film so sad.