4.5 stars out of 5
As I watched this movie, I realized that I’m a pretty neurotic fella. If this film was about me, it would be a lot more “oh does she like me, should i call, should i wait, why did i say that thing that i said.” A Woody Allen flick, basically. But Gloria Bell is not neurotic. She’s a 50-something woman, 12 years divorced, living her best-ish life: working, checking up on her grown kids, socializing, doing yoga. And to unwind, she loves to dance. Maybe for you it’s vaping or running or video games or obsessively going to see live music (wait, what?), because we all need that escape.
While out dancing, she meets a guy, one year divorced. (Rookie!) Played by our man John Turturro, Arnold is awkward at first, but soon they’re a thing, and it’s nice. When we’re a bit older and set in our routines, it can be a real challenge to open up and let a new person in. But Gloria takes it all in stride… as we watch her life slowly weaken at the seams.
It’s been a minute since I’ve seen Julianne Moore as the sole lead in a movie and she is in absolute top form here, carrying the film on her shoulders. (Speaking of shoulders, she’s looking rather well.) There’s a scene where the camera focuses on Gloria as Arnold reads a poem to her, and it had me thinking, hand Moore the Oscar right now. So tuned in, so expressive throughout the proceedings.
The story also deals with the realities and indignities of aging, without hitting us over the head with it. On the one hand, Gloria tells us that the body is always young and regenerating itself, and that she hasn’t had any plastic surgery. Later a friend (Rita Wilson, yay) says if you get a new hairdo when you get “work” done, people notice the hair, not the surgery. We also see Gloria calmly following her… uh… “womanscaping” routine. Life takes effort.
And there is comfort in the past. She sings along to old favorites in her car. (Because of this, at first I wasn’t sure if the movie was set in the present day. It is.) She goes dancing where they play familiar tunes. Gloria finds warmth in the easy revisionist-history nostalgia of family, with burly ex Brad Garrett (good) and a subdued Michael Cera as her son. When all else fails, there’s always mom (our old bosom buddy Holland Taylor).
Two little gripes: This is a world where no one turns their ringer off — though I guess that’s a good shorthand to show that someone is constantly calling. And the good-time oldies that Gloria enjoys so much seem to a little too perfectly match whatever is going on in her life. And yet, I’ll allow that too, because when we’re falling in or out of love, it really does seem like every song on the radio understands us.
Will Gloria succumb to everything quietly crumbling around her, or can she summon some inner reserve? The climax and then final scene are positively exquisite; I left feeling extremely satisfied. Thank you, Julianne Moore and writer/director Sebastián Lelio!
Jack Silbert, curator