This film tells the story of an accomplished female Hollywood film star who meets a young man in Liverpool.The film concentrates on the couple, who have strong personalities and share an unlikely relationship. The course of the story is unexpected, as I have not heard of Gloria Grahame before. It is a captivating story, and I feel rather sad when the film finished.

Despite it being a true story and brilliantly acted by all, particularly Bening, two hours of watching an aging actress die does not constitute entertainment.

Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool ****Fantastic Anette Benning and Jamie Bell hand in powerhouse performances in this emotional packed true life Drama. Jamie Bell plays the struggling actor who becomes romantically involved with Annette Benning's former Hollywood star twice his age.The film adapted from a book based on the real event captivates in it's bitter originality of such a unlikely romance occurring in such unlikely of circumstances and directed with elegance.The unlikely romance begins and true story of love unfolds in the rarest of kinds from Hollywood bold, sad, honest and with sterling performances from all involved.That cast by the way happens to include Stephen Graham, Julie Waters and Vanessa Redgrave who all hit their parts hard adding to the nice ensemble. Benning really does give it her all in career best that unfortunately has occurred the same year as 3 Billboards otherwise an Oscar for Benning's work could well have been guaranteed. Meeting her every step of the way is Bell who not since Billy Elliot has worn his heart on his sleeve with his every emotion captivated across his face we feel every aspect of character's emotion just looking at him.Whilst Graham and Redgrave are some what underused they still make the most of their scenes but it's Waters who has the most lines from the supporting cast and hits them all. Kenneth Granham plays the quiet spoken Father, who hands in a underrated performance with sadness, humor and ultimately a moral compass for the film. This is summarized in touching little scene in the pub with his son where the full complexity of the situation is captivated through a full array of emotions and thought process. Certainly the casting director can raise a class of champagne as the right actors were assembled for the right tasks here.The story unfolds at a nice pace and utilized a change of perspective in the third act effectively to pull on the heartstrings and add to the tragedy of circumstance.In many viewers the dark subject matter at times will become a little too heavy for some to enjoy with a depressing tone as romantic comedy this is not.This is not easy watching or for the casual viewer but if you do invest you will come away with a story that captivates the emotions from such unlikely of origins of human attraction and love from a multitude of angles and emotions.

Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool (2017).Chipper F. Xavier, Esq.The premise: Peter Turner (Jamie Bell) & Gloria Grahame (Annette Bening) fall in love. The catch: Peter's a 28 year-old Brit and Gloria is a much older American actress with four ex-husbands and four grown children. She's also a bit of a has-been: An Oscar winning, movie star icon from the days of black and white films. But by the end of this movie, you will believe in the power of their love for one another.Inspired by the autobiography of Peter Turner, Film Stars walks us through the whimsical meeting, courtship and relationship of Turner and Grahame from 1979 through 1981. Director Paul McGuigan sets his opening in Liverpool, England where the two first meet. Rather than romanticize the aged actress, Bening's Grahame is a gutsy dame, just barely held together by cosmetics, alcohol, wardrobe and slowly fading hauteur. Bell's Turner is an energetic young man who is enraptured with Grahame before he discovers her prior fame. The strength of Bell's performance lies in normalizing Turner's seemingly inexplicable attraction to a woman old enough to be his mother - their first kiss is as surprising as it is heart-warming. In this sense, the couple present an idealistic love which refuses to acknowledge its anachronistic nature.Film Stars goes well beyond the Hollywood romance tropes to present us with the unvarnished heart of humanity. Grahame's and Turner's families, performed by Vanessa Redgrave and Julie Walters, are skilfully woven into the tapestry of their relationship in a way that makes us see just how grounded in reality this movie is: Their problems are real, and seemingly insurmountable.The real feat of Film Stars is not in delivering Peter and Gloria's romance to the viewer, or even in presenting an oddity for the world to brazenly ogle, but in transporting the audience into their time and lives and making us wish that we could all be so fortunate to experience such a love, if only once, no matter what it cost us.