The Hollywood movie Gloria Bell, starring Julianne Moore, is coming to theaters on March 8. Gloria Bell is a remake of the the Chilean gem Gloria. Fortunately, Sebastián Lelio, the original writer-director of Gloria (and A Fantastic Woman) is also directing Gloria Bell. Here’s your chance to see the original.
In Gloria, we meet a 58-year-old woman who has been divorced for ten years. This ain’t An Unmarried Woman where a woman must learn to adapt and become independent. She supports herself with an office job, and she gets along with her adult kids, but they have their own lives. She doesn’t stay cooped up in her apartment, she tries out yoga and laugh therapy and cruises a certain Santiago disco – a meat market for the over 50 set. She already is plenty independent, and she knows what she wants – some adult companionship and a friendship with benefits.
On one outing to the disco, she meets a distinguished and sweet-tempered gentleman who is a great dancer and who absolutely adores her. Of course, he also has some flaws, to be discovered later. Gloria eagerly embraces the good things that happen to her, and when there are bumps in her road, she refuses to wilt.
Gloria was a big hit at last year’s Berlin Film Festival. Part of Gloria’s appeal to some audiences is, no doubt, an unusual amount of nudity and sex for a film about people in their late 50s and 60s. But I think the best part about Gloria is the resiliency of the main character – she takes her lumps for sure but refuses to withdraw into victimhood.
Paulina Garcia is extraordinarily good as Gloria – her performance carries the movie. She has the ability to suffer an indignity without becoming pathetic. Sergio Hernandez is very, very good as Gloria’s new flame, as is Alejandro Goic as her ex. Gloria is a crowd pleaser.