SAVAGE GRACE - The shocking film of Barbara Daly Baekeland's life and murder (on DVD Dec 23)

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"The performances are uniformly strong: Julianne Moore uses her trademark luminescence to communicate Barbara's ill-conceived hunger for experience and love, and she's a magnetic screen presence." -Lisa Mullen, Sight and Sound

"[The director] uses dark humor and artful style to pull you into a tale of the rich abusing their privileges... Moore delivers a tour de force." -Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

"With haunting performances... Moore is excellent... Her son, Tony, is brilliantly played by Eddie Redmayne. For an actor so young, it is astounding." -Claudia Puig, USA Today

"[Director Tom Kalin] brings a maturity and restraint to material that could be played for sensationalized kicks, crafting instead a work of rigorous verve and careful, skillful modulation." -Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times

SAVAGE GRACE on DVD »
(Bonus Features not yet known - from IFC Films, and distributed through Genius Products)

Truth is more shocking than fiction.

SAVAGE GRACE, based on the award winning book, tells the incredible true story of Barbara Daly, who married above her class to Brooks Baekeland, the dashing heir to the Bakelite plastics fortune. Beautiful, red-headed and charismatic, Barbara is still no match for her well-bred husband. The birth of the couple´s only child, Tony, rocks the uneasy balance in this marriage of extremes. Tony is a failure in his father´s eyes. As he matures and becomes increasingly close to his lonely mother, the seeds for a tragedy of spectacular decadence are sown. Spanning 1946 to 1972, the film unfolds in six acts. The Baekelands´ pursuit of social distinction and the glittering ´good life´ propels them across the globe. We follow their heady rise and tragic fall against the backdrop of New York, Paris, Cadaques, Mallorca and London.

Historical Info (from Wikipedia)
Barbara Daly Baekeland was a wealthy socialite who was murdered by her son, Antony Baekeland on November 17, 1972. She was the wife of Brooks Baekeland, grandson of Leo Baekeland, founder of Bakelite plastic.

Her murder took place at her London home, where Antony stabbed her with a kitchen knife, and she died almost instantly. When the police arrived, they found Antony, who was 25-years-old at the time, ordering Chinese food over the phone. He later confessed and was charged with murder.

Before meeting Brooks Baekeland, Barbara was a model and would-be Hollywood starlet; she had a screen test in Hollywood with the actor Dana Andrews. During their marriage, she was known for her unstable personality, rude outbursts and bouts of severe depression. She led a decadent lifestyle of drinking and risqué sexual encounters. In time, her husband Brooks left her for a younger woman, Sylvie (who some said had been his son's girlfriend first), which was followed by divorce. This led to severe depression and a suicide attempt (her friend Gloria Jones, wife of James Jones, saved her).

Baekeland had an enmeshed, co-dependent and allegedly incestuous relationship with her homosexual son, Antony. Baekeland attempted to "fix" her son by having prostitutes take him to bed; after this failed, Baekeland was alleged to have convinced or coerced her son into sexual intercourse. Though Antony displayed signs of schizophrenia with paranoid tendencies, his father refused to allow him to be treated by psychiatrists, whom he believed were "professionally amoral". Her son's erratic behavior caused concern among family friends, and over the years, the two had several threatening arguments involving knives. After the murder, Antony was institutionalized at Broadmoor Hospital until, after much urging by a group of his friends, he was released in July 21, 1980. He relocated to New York City to live with his grandmother, stabbing but not killing her less than a week later. He was sent to Rikers Island and was suffocated with a plastic bag on March 20, 1981; it is not known if his death was a suicide or murder.

In 2007, the Baekeland murder was made into the film Savage Grace, starring Julianne Moore, Stephen Dillane, Eddie Redmayne and Elena Anaya, based on the book of the same name.

After the film appeared, Barbara Baekeland's former lover, Sam Green, wrote an article pointing out elements in the film possibly misleading for those trying to read back to the reality inspiring it. Referring in particular to the scene of Barbara, her son Antony, and Sam in bed together making love, he wrote, "it is true that almost 40 years ago I did have an affair with Barbara, but I certainly never slept with her son...Nor am I bisexual." He went on to give his opinion that "she started telling people she had had an incestuous relationship with her son as a way of 'curing' him of homosexuality...But I don't believe she had sex with Tony. I think she simply enjoyed shocking people."

» View the Theatrical Trailer »

» Interview with actress JULIANNE MOORE »
(brief interview from Entertainment Weekly during the May 2007 Cannes Film Festival)

Further Information:

» How a society beauty was finally murdered by the gay son she had seduced » It's a jaw-dropping tale - the society beauty who seduced her son to 'cure' him of homosexuality and paid with her life. As the story of Barbara Baekeland becomes a Hollywood film, "Savage Grace", a riveting book tells the truth about her 1972 murder.

» I wasn't to blame for heiress murder, says art expert depicted on screen in 'incest threesome' » It is true that almost 40 years ago I did have an affair with Barbara, but I certainly never slept with her son, and nor did she, to the best of my knowledge. Nor am I bisexual. The movie producers have changed my sexual orientation but couldn't be bothered to change my name. I'm taking legal advice because the film has damaged me and distorted a life that certainly needs no exaggeration. -SAM GREEN

Film Synopsis:
Truth is more shocking than fiction.
Set across a stunning backdrop ranging from New York to Paris to Cadaques, SAVAGE GRACE is the incredible true story of a scandal that even today remains shocking. The beautiful Barbara Daly (Academy Award-nominee Julianne Moore - The Hours, Boogie Nights) marries above her social class to the dashing heir of the Bakelite plastics fortune, Brooks Baekeland (Stephen Dillane of the HBO miniseries John Adams). The birth of the couple's only child, Tony (Eddie Redmayne of The Good Shepard), intensifies the already volatile marriage. As Tony matures, he becomes an unwilling pawn in the psychosexual games of his parents, and the seeds for a tragedy of spectacular decadence are sown which challenge even the most shocking taboos. As Tony grows older and the family relocates from New York City to Paris to Spain to Ibiza throughout the 1950s and '60s, Barbara's fanatical smothering has left her son a sheepish wreck. The fact that he's homosexual only makes matters worse. Unable to escape from his mother's clutches, Tony begins to lose his mind, spurring a fatal act that will destroy the family.

Tom Kalin's (Swoon) return to cinema has dazzled and stunned audiences from the Cannes to the Sundance Film Festivals. Savage Grace finds Moore delivering one of her most electrifying and challenging performances. She brings humanity and credibility to a character who is deeply damaged. Director Kalin's bold decision to present six chapters in the family's saga, as opposed to taking a more traditional route, results in a richer and more intellectual work. Let it be known, Savage Grace has some truly dark material that will shock many viewers. But Kalin's artistry as a director keeps it from feeling like mere exploitation.

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