"May-December Romance with a Famous Hollywood Starlet"
None | Light | Moderate | Heavy | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Language | ||||
Violence | ||||
Sex | ||||
Nudity |
What You Need To Know:
FILM STARS DON’T DIE IN LIVERPOOL is told with authenticity and some poignancy. However, it’s dominated by a Romantic worldview and exhibits an excessive mixture of questionable content. First, it centers on a May-December affair between two unmarried people who had no intention of ever being married. The movie also contains plenty of foul language, explicit nudity, bedroom scenes, brief homosexual references, and other objectionable content. Gloria and Peter justify their unconventional relationship just because they’re in love. MOVIEGUIDE® suggests moviegoers stay away from FILM STARS DON’T DIE IN LIVERPOOL.
Content:
More Detail:
FILM STARS DON’T DIE IN LIVERPOOL tells the biographical story of the famed movie star from the 1940s and 50s, Gloria Grahame. Told from the perspective of her young lover, Peter Turner, the story is told flashing back and forth between 1981 and the time Gloria and Peter spent with each other when they were together and in love.
As the movie opens, Peter is living in his hometown of Liverpool, England in 1978, pursuing a career as an on-stage actor when a fascinating woman moves into his apartment building, and suddenly into his life. This woman is Gloria Grahame, the famous Hollywood actress known for movies such as IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, THE BIG HEAT and OKLAHOMA!. Seeing Peter in the mail room alone one day, Gloria invites him into her apartment for a drink, if he will help her practice disco dancing. The attraction is instant between the two people, despite their age difference of 29 years. They begin to spend more and more time together, going to the movies and the local pubs. Old enough to be his mother, Gloria begins to feel a bit self-conscience about their age difference, but Peter assures her he’s in love with her, and their love affair begins.
Fast forward three years. Peter is contacted by a hospital close to his home in Liverpool, where he finds out Gloria has been there, is sick and refuses to receive treatment from the doctors. Loved by his entire family, they shelter her and begin to try nursing her back to health. During this time of reunion, Peter begins to remember all the things that happened when they spent their time together years before. Because Gloria refuses to contact her family, or seek treatment, Peter calls the hospital to find out more about her condition. Upon learning the truth, he sets out to make the rest of their time together the best that he possibly can.
FILM STARS DON’T DIE IN LIVERPOOL is a biographical story surrounding the real love affair of these two people. The viewer is captured immediately by the story, told with cleverly intertwined flashbacks, causing the audience to easily empathize with the characters. Annette Bening is practically indistinguishable as an older version of the real Gloria Grahame, and plays her with grace and ease. Although it’s hard to agree morally with Gloria and Peter’s choices, the events are real and told with authenticity and some poignancy.
However, FILM STARS contains a high degree of questionable content throughout the entire movie. Besides the fact that the entire storyline centers around a love affair between two very unlikely, and unmarried, people, the movie includes strong sexual content and explicit nudity. In addition, there’s an excessive amount of foul language, including at least 30 “f” bombs and a couple strong profanities. FILM STARS DON’T DIE IN LIVERPOOL also contains lying, dysfunctional family elements, moral relativism and brief homosexual references. So, while only one or two of these problems might warrant extreme caution, the mixture of them is excessive.