Gloria Bell – Review

Directed by: Sebastián Lelio

Runtime: 102 minutes

Anyone who has been divorced knows there are unique challenges and benefits that come with living independently and entering a new romance later in life. Gloria Bell observes the life of a middle-aged divorced woman (played wonderfully by Julianne Moore), and writer-director Sebastián Lelio, in remaking his 2013 Chilean film Gloria, infuses the screenplay with passion and deft direction. I won’t argue that Gloria Bell is a great film, but it is a very good film that held my attention from beginning to end.

Gloria Bell is a Los Angeles-based insurance agency worker. She has been divorced for twelve years and has two adult children busy with their own lives. Her son (Michael Cera) is a new father, and her daughter (Caren Pistorius) is a yoga instructor who has fallen in love with an extreme surfer from Sweden. At night, she goes to a nightclub catering to the over-50 set. She’s open to meeting men; that’s why she’s there. One night at the night club, Gloria meets Arnold (John Turturro), a recently-divorced ex-Marine whose two needy adult daughters never stop calling him. After their one-night stand, Gloria and Arnold soon become a couple, go to restaurants, meet her friends and hit the dancefloor at the same nightclub.

Movies about divorce often fall into the cliché of the main character mourning his/her failed marriage and having self-esteem issues. That is not Gloria at all. She feels lonely and frustrated at times, but her outlook on life is still humourous and optimistic. She feels detached from her children who tend to ignore her, but she can still break into song and dance, both on the car radio and dancefloor (the film boasts a very colourful soundtrack featuring Bee Gees and John Paul Young, among other artists). Even though the movie doesn’t offer a love story with a tidy ending, it still remains beautiful and uplifting. It’s just like life itself.

That’s what makes it so easy for the audience to identify with Gloria. She embodies many flaws of the human experience and Julianne Moore is great in the part. The movie is not just about the complications of dating and divorce, but also identity. There isn’t really a straightforward plot (much like foreign films, which this is based on), but the situations are interesting because the characters feel real.

The standout scene for me is the birthday dinner scene, where Arnold meets Gloria’s children, her ex-husband Dustin (Brad Garrett) and Dustin’s current wife Fiona (Jeanne Tripplehorn). The introduction of a potential new partner at a family event is confusing to Gloria’s children. Dustin has also missed out on some important events involving his now-grown children (which may be the case for men with second families) and what he discovers during friendly dinner chat is a lot for him to take in. This moment is funny because of how awkward and relatable it feels.

There’s a sense of truth and believability that transpires throughout Gloria Bell. It offers two hours of fine entertainment while addressing some serious issues. The filmmaker understands that it is possible for a romantic comedy to appeal not only to the heart, but the mind as well.