Probably more currently well-known as The Film For Which Annette Bening Was Nominated For An Oscar and Summarily Screwed by Hilary Swank Yet Again, Being Julia is nevertheless a showcase for Mrs. Warren Beatty and is easily the best role she's had since ... well, probably since Hilary Swank beat her for her superb work in Sam Mendes' 1999 masterpiece American Beauty. Despite the TKO by Swank at the 2004 Oscars, Bening delivers a winning, ferocious performance as the titular Julia Lambert in Istvan Szabo's adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's novella "Theatre."

A sort of Brit spin on All About Eve if you will, Being Julia indulges in the intense pressure and seemingly relentless cattiness of the theatre world, albeit set in Thirties, pre-war London. Julia is the reigning diva of London theatre, still playing roles of women in their 20s and 30s despite being in her 50s. Bored in her marriage to her manager, Michael Gosslyn (Jeremy Irons), Julia seeks to re-ignite her spark. She soon falls head over heels for a young American, Tom Fennel (Shaun Evans) and begins a passionate May-December fling. Michael doesn't mind so long as Julia's happy and keeps doing well.

Julia comes to realize that Tom's merely a youthful social climber and has his eyes set on the fetching and ambitious young starlet Avice Crichton (Lucy Punch), who aims to unseat Julia by nabbing a prized role in Julia's latest play. This realization sets in motion a plot to exact her revenge as well as restore her lustre and reputation. Aided by her friend Jimmie Langton (Michael Gambon), Julia weathers the storms but not without consequences.

Szabo's film is uneven at times, vacillating between a period soap opera and chamber piece, but the final third redeem the occasionally turgid and slow-building first half. Bening, Irons and Gambon all deliver excellent performances, but as it's Bening's show, she outshines them both. Fans of theatre-based dramas will find much to sink their teeth into but the unsteady narrative keeps Being Julia from warranting curtain calls.

The Video:

Being Julia is rendered in a wonderful 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation that does luminous justice to both Lucianna Arrighi's period production design and Lajos Koltal's faintly gauzy cinematography. There are no defects to speak of, aside from occasional graininess. The vintage London sets and costumes look quite dazzling; overall, a lovely visual effort.

Offered in Dolby Digital 5.1 only, Being Julia sounds solid as it's mainly a dialogue-driven affair. Mychael Danna's sweeping orchestral contributions also sound full and smooth. Nothing spectacular, but an adequate aural presentation that suits the film well.

A nice, if slightly underwhelming, batch of extras are included on the disc - a relaxed, almost somnolent commentary track from Szabo, Irons and Bening covers everything from shooting locations to character motivations. They're not overly excitable, but do parse out some interesting tidbits. Also on board are two featurettes - the nine-minute "Behind The Scenes of Being Julia" and the five-and-a-half-minute "Behind The Lens: The Making of Being Julia - the former is basically EPK fluff, while the latter is raw, on-set footage that details various shot set-ups. Five minutes of deleted scenes presented in non-anamorphic widescreen are here as are trailers for Bad Education, House of Flying Daggers, Head in the Clouds and William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice - all in anamorphic widescreen.

Bening's performance anchors this otherwise erratic film, but there's still enough good contained within Being Julia - particularly the sumptuous period production design, cinematography and gorgeous music - to recommend it for a Saturday night spin.