Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool (dir. Paul McGuigan)

Adapted from Peter Turner’s memoir of the same name, “Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool” is a love story of two contrasting people falling in love for the first time. One half of the lovebirds happens to be former Hollywood royalty turned cliché savant, Gloria Grahame (Annette Benning) whilst the other that of an an out-of-work actor Peter Turner (Jamie Bell) - a 28 year old enamored by her impressive Hollywood history.

At the helm for the May-December romance is Peter McGuigan, of Lucky Number Slevin and most recently Victor Frankestein fame - who structures the narrative in the form of two time periods: 1981 Liverpool, where Gloria’s debilitating health necessitates her staying with Peter and his parents Bella (Julie Walters) and Joe (Kenneth Cranham), and 1979 London, where there fleeting courtship blossoms and transcends into something meaningful during her brief stint in a West-end play.

Perhaps the greatest achievement of McGuigan's romance is in making Grahame so likable despite her tormented past. Four-time the divorceé, with a particular marriage to her ex-husband Nicholas Ray's son becoming arguably the most controversial, she's far from the catch she once was. Credit to Benning then, for bringing vulnerability and a restrained quality to the former Hollywood star, as without it there's no denying her role could have wandered into dangerously parodical waters. Far gone is the Gloria Grahame that took La La Land by storm, winning an Oscar in 1952 for Vincent Minnelli's" The Bad and The Beautiful", and starring in many other notable works - often with Humphrey Bogart and other acting greats. But with these great achievements came a sense of self-doubt in her later years, constantly over thinking her actions and never being completely at ease with the mistakes she made in her personal life.

Famously a passion project of Benning’s for years, her life-long ambition at portraying the 50’s icon has been in and out of production for numerous reasons - yet thankfully for those involved, it’s been worth the wait; completely believable in the role and commanding Graham’s difficult relationship with love and complex relationship with fame in an experienced unison. But it takes two to tango, and a welcoming screen-partner is Jamie Bell (who evokes his Billy Elliot moves in a delightful sequence to the sounds of Sister Sledge), a BAFTA-winning star for Billy Elliot -who re-teams with his co-star Julie Walters for the first time since his ballet days - is a perfect counter-balance to Graham’s Hollywood buffoonery: keeping her grounded in a sea of nostalgic resentment and commanding the screen with his youthful exuberance and naive understanding of affairs of the heart.

While the 1981 set-pieces are much more broad in their depiction of their relationship and therefore less enticing (McGuigan’s drama would have been better suited to one time-frame), our star-crossed lovers bond in 1979 London over their love of the theater and her well-documented career in Hollywood. “I want to play Juliet”, says Gloria to her young-muse, though this could be construed as an enticing Graduate-style attempt at seducing her much younger admirer, it says more to the 57 year old’s foolish and impetuous insight into her declining career, hoping for a stint in the Royal Shakespeare’s Company.

But this becomes the thesis of McGuigan’s romance - helped immensely from the snappy script from Matt Greenhaigh - their unlikely relationship is reminiscent of two 16 year olds experiencing first time love and dealing with the aftermath of real-life woes. Supporting performances from the always delectable Julie Walters and a brief appearance from Vanessa Redgrave as Gloria’s mother- relishing in her role as the overbearing mother - keep the drama engaging and much like the sequences with Peter's family, are a welcoming addition to contextualization of our protagonists.

But it’s all about the chemistry between the two leads - perfectly cast and delightfully charismatic - who jolt the somewhat unremarkable narrative tropes into a enjoyably distracting love story. Though the minuscule budget restricts it somewhat, so much so that there are some rather dodgy looking landscapes during their brief stints in Los Angeles and New York City (the drama is better severed when on British soil) - and it’s doubtful to move mountains over the US where the admittedly familiar English slang will surely dumfound many stateside audiences. But this is a story about true love in the unlikeliest of suitors, and in the unlikeliest of towns and if you can succumb to the portentous amorous undertones, it's a real treat.