Savage Grace (2007)

Ice cold thriller and one of the most underrated films of recent years. Director Tom Kalin's dark and elegant dramatization of Barbara Daly Baekland murder case is shocking, twisted and has echoes of the finest works of directors like Alfred Hitchcock, Pedro Almodovar and Brian De Palma.
This is a film which is not for the faint at heart. It is amazing that this is actually based on a true story, but in my life i have learned that the most amazing and shocking stories are often ones that are actually true. Here Savege Grace is no different.
It starts out as a stylish drama about a dysfunctional upper class family and their relationships, but what at the first sight seem to be intimate melodrama turns little by little into a twisted and dark tale about mother and son relationship gone horribly wrong.
Nothing quite prepares us in the audience what we are about to experience. Kalin's observant way to approach his material is pitch perfect for a story like this. Even with a story this shocking he manages to keep his film firmly on ground and has no interest in going any more into the nasty details of the story as it is necessary.
Kalin, who made equally interesting Swoon, is director with only two feature films and many short ones behind him. Still both of these feature films shows exceptional talent from Kalin as a filmmaker with style and capability of capturing the best of his actors.
Julianne Moore is one of the most talented actress around these days. With each passing year she has proved to be true force of the nature. She has this chameleon like ability to dive head first into her characters and breath life into them. Her performance as a famous and tragic Barbara Daly Baekland is her career best work to date. Her Barbara is manipulative, uncertain and completely out of control. She is dangerous piece of work and one person you should not make angry. Eddie Redmayne as her sexually uncertain son Tony is equally complex character. Young boy trapped in a young man'a body. He is boy who shares a twisted relationship to her mother and who has alway been denied as a too weak by his father. Redmayne is nothing short of brilliant as a Tony and makes him as vulnerable as he is dangerous. There are also fantastic supporting performances by Hugh dancy as Barbara's close friend and Stephen Dillane as the cheating and selfish head of Baekland family.
I truly adore this film's fantastic looks and i admire it's boldness towards the subject matter it has. Kalin is not afraid to tell this shocking story. Savage Grace is a film which is amazingly good looking and sounding. With cinematography by Juan Miguel Azpiroz, well made production design by Victor Molero and Bernard Hermann style score by Fernando Velazquez, this film is truly captivating to watch.
Savage Grace has the colourful look of Almodovar's best films, tension of finest of Hitchcock and erotic boldness of De Palma, but still somehow it lacks the soul and feel a bit too distant work for my taste. Maybe Kalin's icy approach denies the access to get inside in the mind of these characters, but it all comes so very close to be an masterful thriller.