Apparently last year's Gloria Bell is a remake of writer-director Sebastian Lelio's 2013 film Gloria, to the point of large sections being almost shot-for-shot reproductions. While I can't speak to that -- since I haven't seen it -- it makes me wonder why he'd be so keen to reinvent such a basic story so soon afterward, especially since it was evidently well-received. But that question left my brain almost immediately once I started watching this movie. The story is what it is, but the glory here is in Lelio's leading actress.
Julianne Moore plays the title character, a middle-aged woman looking for some kind of life. A divorcee whose two adult children are contentedly living their own lives, she spends her time out of the office either visiting with family or going clubbing. She is a woman liberated, fearless and jubilant and fabulously alone, dancing and singing her heart out to empowering music from late classic rock. She loves her children, enjoys success in her insurance job, clearly takes good care of herself, and knows how to have a good time. Clearly not averse to finding love (or whatever), she meets with men while dancing; she's not desperate or lonely, but she does seem to want companionship and someone to share her joie de vivre with.
Her optimism and good humor make the movie move along briskly. It's a sort of "life goes on" narrative that avoids tragedy or even much sentimentality. If you don't take control of your life -- or at least consciously choose to enjoy the ride -- it will pass you by faster than you think. And Moore is pitch-perfect in a role seemingly tailored to her unique skill set. Nearly every other scene featuring Moore is an actor's workshop in technique, and we watch Moore go from laughter to tears (during a poetry reading) or from joy to fear to loneliness and back to joy. Because Gloria lives so incandescently in the present moment, Moore gives her all to each emotional and intellectual beat. It's a magnificent performance.
As in his previous features -- including last year's Disobedience and A Fantastic Woman the year before -- Lelio directs his performers well and his film even better. John Turturro here plays Arnold, an uncanny foil to Gloria in that he wants to take control of his life but cannot, due to his ex and dependent daughters. Arnold's awkward attitude, his sort of hounded and trapped role, give him freedom to act in unpleasant and thankless ways: Turturro, so often the funny man, here combines his eccentricities with genuine anxiety that feels lived-in and authentic, perhaps because they are mobilized by his romantic interests. It is, interestingly, with this character that Lelio seems least comfortable, and so his scenes carry a darker weight that I wasn't expecting from this movie. But Lelio blends them all into an inspiring slice of life that soars in leaps and bounds over melodramas of its ilk.
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