I have no great love for Robert
Pattinson, but having said that I don't particularly have anything against him. I will admit to having seen one of
the Twilight films (for my sins) but he was in no way the most offensive part
of it. He didn’t put me off this film and I’m even considering watching
Cosmopolis, which seems to be not far off being The Pattinson Show. I won’t
rave about his attractiveness though. The whole pale glittery vampire thing
doesn’t really do it for me.
Sideburns and a cravat on the
other hand…
Now, there are far too many close
ups on Pattinson’s eyes and far too many would-be smouldering looks across a
crowded room for the directors to be able to claim anything other than that
this is basically a sex film. A lot of effort has gone into making us find this
boy sexy - we as an audience need to want him. If we don’t, how can we
understand why all these women are falling over themselves (sometimes literally)
to have him? It’s safe to say that it works too. He’s hot - at least at the
beginning of the film. As he makes his way through several influential men’s
wives (played reasonably well by Uma Thurman, Christina Ricci and Kristin Scott
Thomas), the impressive moody looks and subtle lighting start to wear a little
thin however. I was over it, and over him, by the half-way point. Coincidently
this was also the point where I stopped really caring about the film at all.
Sex (and the power that goes with it) is the main theme of the
film. Monsieur Duroy (aka Bel Ami) starts
off newly arrived in Paris, poor and friendless (mais oui) and, after a chance
meeting with an old acquaintance, goes about sleeping with as many wives and
daughters as possible in order to gain money, fame, and influence. It’s a
flawless scheme… clearly, and in no way gets him in trouble.
There are other plot devises that
go on amongst all this but frankly none of them are particularly interesting
and the film ends up being a rather pointless, but harmless, affair (no pun
intended) which was interesting enough to watch once. I’m also curious enough
to see what the directors produce next – it’s their first full length film, and
not a bad one at that.
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