Bel Ami is an intriguing film. To me, its most interesting aspect is the Uma Thurman character's need to express herself and her frustration at being blocked career-wise from doing so. She very creatively uses Pattinson,the male lead, as a conduit /front for her ideas and insights. While he is busy fooling around with the ladies in some foolish attempt to get back at the rich guys he envied, he is oblivious to how bright, insightful and liberated Uma Thurman is and how creatively she is using him. The scene where he is ignoring her pain at losing her good friend (the Count) and is focused only on his pride and money, was beautifully done. Guy DeMaupassant wrote Bel Ami in the late 1800s. It's impressive how insightful he was about the plight of women at that time. Pattinson surprised me. He showed a bit of range and texture--a nice step up from his insipid work in the vampire series (albeit the poor scripts were tough to work with).
Review of Bel Ami
