BARRY LYNDON meets BIG NIGHT in screenwriter Peter Glanz's directorial debut. It starts off as a dark, nasty, witty social satire on social climbers, takes a turn into a genuinely moving love story, but just loses steam in its second half. After such a sharp take-off in its first thirty minutes, I then wanted something, anything to happen, and it never did. That's the point, but it made for a rather dull watch. This is all rather a shame as the two lead performances are absolutely superb.
The Crown's Claire Foy gives a wonderfully layered performance as Lady Savage - a properly aristocratic woman who defied convention to marry the dastardly rake and parvenu, Chauncey. She gives a powerful defence of female agency and genuinely moved me. But despite this, she pawns the last of her family jewels to scrape her way back into high society, when the chance to host the Marlboroughs comes her way. And what of her husband? Grant plays Chauncey as a kind of ageing Withnail, fuelled by port and gambling, all charm, wit, petulance and aching vulnerability. He wants to be accepted and also to avoid the bailiffs.
The movie hits cruising speed fast. And then stalls. We get a nice side plot involving Jack Farthing and Bel Powley's valet and woman of all work respectively. But ultimately this is a morality play about two people hellbent on social climbing and the agents of their own ruin. It would have worked better as a sixty minute short.
SAVAGE HOUSE is rated R and has a running time of 113 minutes. It is on limited release in the USA and UK.
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