Gloria Bell

''Gloria Bell'' is a 2018 comedy-drama film written and directed by Sebastián Lelio; it is an English language remake of Lelio's 2013 film ''Gloria''. The film stars Julianne Moore, John Turturro, Michael Cera, Caren Pistorius, Brad Garrett, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Rita Wilson, Sean Astin, and Holland Taylor. It had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2018, and was theatrically released in the United States on March 8, 2019, by A24.

Plot

Gloria Bell is a middle-aged divorcée living in LA. She has two children: Anne, a kindhearted yoga instructor, and Peter, an uninspired married man who cares for his infant son while his wife is away. Gloria spends her nights letting loose at dance clubs around the city.

One night, she meets Arnold, also a divorcée, and they hit it off. They sleep together and begin a relationship shortly after. However, Gloria is annoyed when Arnold admits that he still financially supports his ex-wife and two daughters, who are unemployed and demanding. Arnold owns a paintball arena, and introduces Gloria to the sport.

Gloria introduces Arnold to her family at Peter's birthday party, her two children and ex-husband, Dustin, as well as his wife. During a toast, Gloria unwittingly reveals that Anne is pregnant; the father is a Swedish wave rider and she plans to move to Sweden. Dustin did not know these things. Later, they look at family photos, including from Gloria's and Dustin's wedding, which causes amusement but Arnold is left out and leaves unnoticed. Dustin expresses anger at not 'being here' for some event in the photos and the others are shaken from their reverie. When Gloria realizes Arnold has left, everyone looks for him before giving up. Gloria leaves embarrassed.

Arnold repeatedly calls her, and finally catches up with her as she is leaving work. He attempts to justify his sudden exit from the party (that he had sought her eyes and she had not been looking for him), but when he again mentions his daughters' calls, she tells him to 'grow a pair'. She tries to give him his paintball guns back but he refuses, so she drives away with them.

Gloria's crazy neighbor leaves his marijuana on her doorstep one night, and, impulsively, she smokes it and goes dancing. The next day, she drives Anne to the airport for her trip to Sweden, tearfully accepting her daughter is grown up. Soon after, Gloria is told by the doctor she will have to take prescription eyedrops for the rest of her life for her failing eyesight.

Gloria finally returns Arnold's calls and they arrange a trip to Las Vegas. As they are settling into their room, he receives a call from his daughters, who inform him that his ex-wife injured herself walking through a sliding glass door. Arnold refuses to cancel the trip, and they have sex that night. They spend time together, eating at nice restaurants and lounging in the pool. He continues to ignore his daughters' calls. During a romantic dinner together, she then suggests that they take a trip to Spain. He agrees and Gloria drops his phone in his soup. Arnold excuses himself, saying he'll be back immediately but does not return. Gloria checks the wardrobe on their hotel room and then goes to the casino. Gloria dazedly drinks and parties with random people, meeting a man and having a hallucinatory trip. She wakes up on a pool chair missing a shoe, and calls her mother to take her home.

Arnold calls her multiple times, and she unplugs her phone in response. Still stuck with the paintball guns, she throws them away, but eventually retrieves them. Then, driving to Arnold's house, she silently shoots his house and him in anger. His ex-wife and daughters rush out, yelling obscenities, but she remains unfazed and drives away, laughing with "Total Eclipse of the Heart" on her stereo.

At her friend Vicky's daughter's wedding reception, the song "Gloria" begins to play, and Gloria politely refuses to dance when asked, but has a change of heart when Vicky coaxes her out. She gets on the dance floor and begins to lose herself in the music.

Cast

* Julianne Moore as Gloria Bell, Dustin's ex-wife, Peter and Anne's mother, Hilary's daughter, Arnold's love interest and Vicky's friend.
* John Turturro as Arnold, Gloria's love interest.
* Michael Cera as Peter, Gloria and Dustin's son, Anne's brother and Hilary's grandson.
* Caren Pistorius as Anne, Gloria and Dustin's daughter, Peter's sister and Hilary's granddaughter.
* Brad Garrett as Dustin Mason, Gloria's ex-husband, Peter and Anne's father and Fiona's husband.
* Jeanne Tripplehorn as Fiona Mason, Dustin's new wife.
* Rita Wilson as Vicky, Gloria's friend.
* Chris Mulkey as Charlie.
* Barbara Sukowa as Melinda.
* Alanna Ubach as Veronica.
* Tyson Ritter as Neighbor.
* Cassi Thomson as Virginia.
* Sean Astin as Jeremy
* Holland Taylor as Hillary Bell, Gloria's mother and Peter and Anne's grandmother.

Production

On May 12, 2017, it was reported that Sebastián Lelio would direct a reimagining of his 2013 film '' Gloria'' starring Julianne Moore. "As one of the greatest actresses in the world, Julianne giving her interpretation of the character is not only a huge honor, it's irresistible. It's going to be like jazz, you'll feel the spirit of the original story but it'll be re-invigorated and vital," said Lelio. On November 16, 2017, it was reported that the film had begun production. John Turturro, Michael Cera, Brad Garrett, Holland Taylor, and Caren Pistorius also joined the cast.

Release

It had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2018. Prior to that, A24 had acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film. It was released on March 8, 2019.

Reception

Box office

''Gloria Bell'' grossed $5.6 million in the United States and Canada, and $5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $10.6 million.

The film made $145,218 from five theaters in its opening weekend, the second best per-venue average ($29,044) of the weekend behind the blockbuster '' Captain Marvel''. In its third weekend, the film expanded to 654 theaters and made $1.7 million, finishing eighth.

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "Free of visual or narrative embellishments, ''Gloria Bell'' rests almost completely on Julianne Moore's performance in the title role – and she's gloriously up to the task." Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 79 out of 100, based on 40 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews."

Gwilym Mumford of ''The Guardian'' gave the film 4 stars out of 5, saying, "there's a warm universality here that is absorbing in its own right." Stephen Dalton of ''The Hollywood Reporter'' wrote: "Although he reconstructs the original film's narrative virtually scene by scene, Lelio strikes a more overtly comic note in ''Gloria Bell'' than in the original." Peter Debruge of ''Variety'' called it "one of the great female-led films of the 21st century, passing the Bechdel test with flying colors — which explains why Moore would be so keen to remake it." Manohla Dargis of ''The New York Times'' wrote: "a transcendent Julianne Moore," the director "is acutely sensitive to the absurdities of everyday life, including the comedy of humiliation, both petty and wounding."

In contrast, some film critics criticized the remake's existence. On ''Mi Cine Tu Cine'', a Mexican film review TV program, Alonso Díaz de la Vega called it "unnecessary", "burying the triumph of Paulina García and Sergio Hernández's performances" ( the original version's protagonists) and "hiding the Latin American work" as a way in which Hollywood wants to tell how to get a notion of success; while Arantxa Luna and Jean-Christophe Berjon emphasized the change of actress, remarking Garcia's performance as "more fresh" and "more profound".

Accolades

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gloria
2018 films
2018 comedy-drama films
A24 (company) films
American remakes of Spanish films
American comedy-drama films
Chilean drama films
English-language Chilean films
FilmNation Entertainment films
Films about families
Films directed by Sebastián Lelio
Films set in Los Angeles
Films scored by Matthew Herbert
2010s English-language films
2010s American films
Remakes of Chilean films