This is a biography of Gertrude Bell (Nicole Kidman) who was an intellectual woman who lived in the disintegrating Ottoman empire. She was beloved by the locals as a westerner who understood their heart and soul. She knew T.E. Lawrence (Robert Patterson) who was technically beneath her and aided Churchill (Christopher Fulford). She was an author, poet, archaeologist, diplomat, traveler and spy.
While I liked the film, I didn't love it as much as I wanted to. Please forgive my misogyny, but her biography has a very female point of view, not that it was a bad thing, it just seemed to dummy down her life. The first 40 minutes of the film concerns her early life and suitors as well as her lover Henry (James Franco in a clean cut role). Her life in the desert shows her meeting T.E. Lawrence and love for Charles Doughty-Wylie (Damian Lewis). The film seemed very poetic in nature as we are read portions of their love letters. The nuts and bolts work of Gertrude Bell took a back seat to art and style as Kidman played Bell with class and distinction.
It seemed more of an art film, then a biopic.
Guide: No swearing. Brief implied sex. Kidman in a wet transparent undergarment...because sometimes love letters and poetry are not enough.
While I liked the film, I didn't love it as much as I wanted to. Please forgive my misogyny, but her biography has a very female point of view, not that it was a bad thing, it just seemed to dummy down her life. The first 40 minutes of the film concerns her early life and suitors as well as her lover Henry (James Franco in a clean cut role). Her life in the desert shows her meeting T.E. Lawrence and love for Charles Doughty-Wylie (Damian Lewis). The film seemed very poetic in nature as we are read portions of their love letters. The nuts and bolts work of Gertrude Bell took a back seat to art and style as Kidman played Bell with class and distinction.
It seemed more of an art film, then a biopic.
Guide: No swearing. Brief implied sex. Kidman in a wet transparent undergarment...because sometimes love letters and poetry are not enough.