Julianne Moore got rave reviews, which was why I decided to watch this movie. I didn't know much about it; just that there was some socialite scandal in the Baekeland family (of Bakelite plastics fame).And geez, was I weirded out by said scandal, even moreso when I reminded myself that it's a true story! Julianne Moore plays Barbara Baekland, wife of Brooks. Barbara married into the family. Because of her more humble beginnings, and despite her newfound wealth, she is incredibly insecure about her social standing. She turns to none other than her own emotionally-underdeveloped son Tony (played by Eddie Redmayne) for comfort. The creepy, a-little-too-graphically depicted relationship that results was a bit much for me.
Both Moore and Redmayne, the only two real characters in the movie, do a decent enough job with what they're asked to do by the director. It's just that what they do is so horrifying. Until the final moments when everything unwinds, it appears that they are both too introspectively incapable, or maybe just vacant, to notice the unnaturalness of it.
Bottom line: I'm a fan of the oddball indie, but this is a step beyond.
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