The true story of the marriage of Barbara Daly (Julianne Moore) and Brooks Bakeland (Stephen Dillane), heirs to the Bakelite fortune who moved in rarified social circles from the 1940s to the early 1970s.The vapid pair's son Tony (Eddie Redmayne) narrates the tragic story of a coddled family with little to do but torment one another. The stylish film traces the Bakelands' debauched and depraved travels from New York to Paris to Majorca and London with a dark humor and an eye for lascivious detail. Julianne Moore delivers a stunning performance as the kind of mother only Tennessee Williams could imagine; after she's deserted by her husband, she takes up with her son and his lover, and that's not even the film's most shocking tale. "A sensual and grand decadent tour... a mesmerizing portrait of love run wildly, tragically amok." (David Ansen, Newsweek) Cornell alum Howard A. Rodman '71 is a screenwriter, novelist, educator. He is professor and former chair of the writing division at the USC School of Cinematic Arts; a member of the board of directors of the Writers Guild of America, west; and an artistic director of the Sundance Institute Screenwriting Labs. more at ifcfilms.com. 35mm
2008, color, 1 hour 27 minutes, USA