User Reviews

Julie Gavras, the daughter of Costa Gavras, the famous French director of Greek origin, was noticed for the qualities of her first movie 'La faute à Fidel !' (2006), a witty coming of age story dealing with the negative repercussions of political involvement on family life. Her second effort in the area of feature films is entitled 'Late Bloomers' and although it proves a notch below 'La faute à Fidel!', this comedy with an edge partly confirms the young writer- director's talent. Her new film, which could be called a "coming of old age story", concerns a couple of people turning sixty. On the one hand meet Mary (Isabella Rossellini), a retired teacher who, wishing very hard to be ready for old age, decides to keep ahead of her future condition and to force this attitude on her husband , trying to make him the diminished person he will become later. On the other, there is Adam (William Hurt), an energetic architect who tends to ignore the weight of years and takes on a new project which may be too big for him. In any event, Adam gets so fed up with his wife's radical approach to old age that he ends up leaving her. But no need to worry too much, this is a comedy and a happy ending is in store for this pair of young/old terrible lovers. As she had already proved in "La faute à Fidel", Julie Gavras has a knack for tackling a serious unsettling subject in a light tone, thereby "helping the medicine go down', as another Julie (Andrews) would have sung. And there is value added in 'Late Bloomers' compared with this first opus since this time the film was made in London, in the English language, with a stellar cast and sparkling dialog. Nobody can say no to witty lines delivered by the delicious Isabella Rossellini, the always reliable William Hurt, the vivacious Doreen Mantle, and many others including 4x20 year-old Leslie Phillips, all excellent. In that context, the first half, a clever mix of biting one-liners and relevant observations on the aging process, borders on perfection. Unfortunately the second half shifts into lower gear as Julie Gavras wastes her time and ours with the stale old trick of boy-leaves-girl-but-still-loves- her-while-behind-the-scenes-others-jockey-to-reunite-them. The final fifteen minutes more or less make up for it but as the saying goes, time and tide wait for no man. All things considered, 'Late Bloomers', although part of it leaves to be desired, remains a satisfying film experience, that will in turns make you laugh (Doreen Mantle's nasty lines ; Simon Callow joyously epitomizing the first attacks of old age through a memorable motto: 'Growing old is not for sissies!' ; and many other eccentricities) and grit your teeth (black humor about becoming old, having to retire from your job, feeling the nearness of death, best summarized by one of the last shots of the films where Rossellini and Hurt in a cemetery look at grave, say "We will be the next to come", embrace each other and finally lie down on the tombstone like two young lovers in the grass). A mix of happy and cruel moments, a faithful reflection of life itself, that is what 'Late Bloomers' can be in its inspired moments.

Late Bloomers is about aging, about coping with growing old, about getting close to the Big Six-Zero. I confess being in love with Isabella Rossellini since I realized that Ingrid Bergman had a daughter, and seeing this film I just realized that this story about people getting close to 60 and having a hard time accommodating this reality speaks to me a lot because I am also getting close to 60. So is my liking this film also a sign of age? Maybe, but then my favorite actress and his wonderful partner in this film William Hurt are also part of the same generation as I am, so we are all aging beautifully and making fun by making movies or watching movies about getting close to 60. Life is good!

There is a wonderful scene in this film that resumes it all and explains why the film works. The two heroes (he is a formerly famous architect, she is a formerly dedicated wife) decided to separate temporary as part of the aging crisis. They meet at the opening of the art exhibition of their younger son, one of these noisy events taking place in an over-crowded gallery with loud music that kills the reality of sounds and light effects that distorts the reality of visuals. They are far away, they can hardly see each other, they can hear nothing because of the loud music. They need not any of these, as with their looking into each other eyes and a few gestures they can tell each other what happened in the weeks or maybe months since they had separated. These weeks and months are nothing compared to the more than thirty years spent together, and no separation can cancel their love, and no words are needed to communicate.

Of course, the scene relies on the wonderful acting talents of Rossellini and Hurt. So does the whole film. Director Julie Gavras (yes, the daughter of ...) received in her hands a script that has a very Woody Allen look, with just an extra touch of sweetness or less cynicism. She decided to put apart or minimize many of the side themes or characters (like the dilemma of the architect faced with a project which maybe exceeds his own capabilities, the agonizing of the three grown-up children of the couple faced with the risk of their parents separating after a life spent together, or the secondary romantic stories which are neglected to the point of making the two characters who enter in relationships with the heroes just pawns in the action) and focus on the coming to the third age story, with all its sweet and bitter consequences. The result is pretty charming, and this is due mainly to the superb acting and to the very inspired music score. Late Bloomers is not a masterpiece, but a minor movie that succeeds to generate genuine emotion, and not only make the audience feel good. Almost unknown to the audiences, hardly distributed, ignored by critics (only five reviews mentioned by IMDb one year almost after the first screenings at the Berlin Festival!) this may prove to be one of the best ignored films of 2012.

I watched this movie because I like William Hurt. Too bad the movie wasn't up to his usual standards. The whole premise of the movie was silly... two well-off people living an upper class life having an unconvincing crisis about getting old. Whatever age they were trying to portray, only a neurotic would consider them "old" IMHO.

The triggering event occurred when the wife couldn't remember how she got to the hotel. Because of that she has a cat scan and the doctor gives her some vanilla advice about fitness. Pure piffle. The memory lapse seemed most unremarkable as did the doctor's advice. Just weak and silly.

What really turned me off was William Hurt's performance. In the beginning he didn't need any accent coaching because all of his lines were just short growls and grunts. In later scenes he was actually trying to do some indistinguishable and unconvincing British accent. That was too much... end of movie for me. A waste of time for both William Hurt and me.