Lips ablaze with crimson petulance, and cheekbones that could cut glass – Julianne Moore’s re-enactment of the life of murdered, married-for-money Barbara Baekeland fitfully smoulders. Pity the rest of this tepid time tumbleweeder never matches her magnetic, frosty fervour. Adapted from Natalie Robins’ dramatization of actual events, Savage Grace is dressed to the nines and desperate to party, all gorgeous cinematography and eye-catching cast – but ultimately it never makes it out the front door. “This society is sick!” seethes Moore… before giving her son a hand job. Family affairs, indeed. Oscillating with callous, impenetrable characters who never earn our empathy, Grace struggles like an impetuous child to seize attention with poorly-orchestrated shocks. A grubby subtext that appears to liken homosexuality with insanity is particularly distasteful. A poor man’s Far From Heaven. 1/5

Via Total Film