Poor Robert Pattinson: The weight of proving himself, in a movie that doesn?t have the words ?Twilight? and ?Saga? in the title, is shaping up to be heavier than a vampire?s curse. In last year?s Water for Elephants, he had a charming naivete, a seemingly natural shyness that was wholly inoffensive, if not exactly memorable. And as social schemer Georges Duroy in Bel Ami, playing here at the Berlinale out of competition on the festival?s next-to-last day, he works harder to redeem himself than any actor should have to: He applies a scowl from Column A with an eyebrow furrow from Column B to express displeasure; Smirk No. 4 denotes a moment of extreme hubris. The effect is like watching an athlete trying not to break a sweat ? you might want to root for him, but there?s a part of you that just wants him to let it all out already.
What is it about the guy? Under the direction of first-time filmmakers Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod, who have directed mostly for the London stage, Pattinson isn?t half-bad. He doesn?t overreach, which perhaps saves him from embarrassment. But he expends so much energy in his desire to be subtle that he?s the exact opposite of subtle — yet he doesn?t just go all the way and take the performance over the top. Duroy is a fellow of modest means, rattling around Paris bedding the women of influential men to increase his own wealth and power. (The movie was adapted, by Rachel Bennette, from Guy de Maupaussant?s second novel, and it?s a foamy — if somewhat snoozy — bit of picturesque entertainment.)
The problem may be that the women around Pattinson run circles around him. They?re the ones you remember, from Uma Thurman?s…
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