Bel Ami

For all of you out there who are waiting to see Robert Pattinson (Cosmopolis, Water For Elephants) fall flat on his face simple because he is the star of Twilight than Bel Ami is not the film for you. Because just as he did in Remember Me and Water For Elephants Pattinson again shows the world that he has more in his acting bag-of-tricks than just his good looks. This time around he adds ‘bad guy’ and ‘romantic lead’ to the bag.
Based on a novel by Guy de Maupassant (and made into more than a few films over the years) Bel Ami sees Pattinson star as Georges Duroy who has returned from war and is now unemployed in late 1800s Paris.
A chance meeting with a former army colleague, Charles Forestier (Philip Glenister – Treasure Island, TV’S Mad Dogs) leads to Georges landing the job of journalist at a political driven newspaper.
However, this isn’t enough for Georges who is determined to climb the social ladder and become rich. He decides to put his other skills to good use, his skills as a seducer and use the most influential women of Paris to get what he wants. Now instead of fuelling his sexual appetite with the likes of prostitute Rachel (Natalia Tena – Skirt, Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part 2) he turns to women such as Clotilde de Marelle (Christina Ricci – Bucky Larson: Born To Be A Star, War Flowers), Madeleine Forestier (Uma Thurman – Ceremony, Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief) and Virginie Walters (Kristen Scott Thomas – The Woman In The Fifth, Salmon Fishing In The Yemen) to get what he really wants.
Directors Declan Donnellan (The Making Of Martin Guerre: A Musical Journey, The Big Fish), Nick Ormerod (The Big Fish) and screenwriter, Rachel Bennette (TV’S Lewis & Lark Rise To Candleford) don’t try to disguise Bel Ami for what it really is, and that is a good old-fashioned period-piece sex romp that throws in aspects of betrayal, lust and jealousy just to spice things up.
And despite the filmmakers all being relatively inexperienced they do pull off what is essentially a good film. Those who don’t know the story at hand will find themselves intrigued by Georges world and just waiting to see how long his luck can last. The script zeroes in on characterization well and Bennette should be congratulated for bothering to give the female characters such strengths and weaknesses… that is one of the things that lifts this film above being ‘just another film’.
Aside from Pattinson going from strength-to-strength Bel Ami lets a couple of Hollywood’s forgotten ladies remind us all of their abilities. Uma Thurman really stands out as Madeleine while Christina Ricci plays the vixen especially well. As usual Kristen Scott Thomas pulls out her A-game and in scenes where she really has to over-act she does it in a way that is never distracting for the audience.
Bel Ami really does come across as Upstairs Downstairs on Viagra, but with a story that intermingles with all the ‘bedding’ and moves the plot along, nobody is likely to complain. A surprisingly good film that should shut-up the Pattinson doubters.
Year: 2012
Director: Declan Donnellan, Nick Ormerod
Stars: Robert Pattinson, Natalia Tena, Christina Ricci, Uma Thurman, Kristen Scott Thomas, Philip Glenister
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 102 mins
Rating: ![]()
Dave Griffiths








