Hugh Dancy makes an utterly surprising appearance as a bisexual dandy with no qualms about having a threesome with a mother and son. (Yup, it’s as cringe-worthy as it sounds.) And relatively unknown Spanish actor Unax Ugalde is eye-catching as Tony’s lover, if for no other reason than he looks like a younger Javier Bardem. I later found out that he played a younger Bardem in Love in the Time of Cholera. See? I could be a casting director.

Kalin plays close attention to time period details. The costumes are impeccable and its fun to observe the wardrobe changes from the 1940s to the 1970s. Even Moore’s hair changes subtly to different shades of red.

It’s all fairly well-done, but unfortunately no one will be able to get past its shock value. At some points the film is almost unnecessarily graphic. There are scenes that are eye-averting, painful to watch. No doubt some will wonder why the filmmakers decided this was a story that needed to be portrayed. Savage Grace is full of pretty people in an attractive aristocratic world, but its inner ugliness makes it a film you’ll rather not sit through.

Movie Grade: C

Synopsis:

Julianne Moore stars in this dramatization of the shocking Barbara Daly Baekeland murder case, which happened in a posh London flat on Friday 17 November 1972. The bloody crime caused a stir on both sides of the Atlantic and remains one of the most memorable American Tragedies. Based on the Natalie Robins book.