Julianne Moore is fast becoming one of the darlings of queer cinema, having worked alongside gay filmmaker Todd Haynes for Far From Heaven (2002) and Safe (1995) and taken part in some old school girl on girl kisses for The Hours (2002). She now provides her services for Tom Kalin’s latest work - Kalin himself being one of the father figures of New Queer Cinema with his debut Swoon (1992).

Moore’s Barbara Baekeland gives her the opportunity to do what she does best, playing extremely damaged goods all wrapped up in glitz and glamour. It’s a drag queens wet dream. Meanwhile the film itself is a disturbing account of the true story of the Baekeland family - the inventors of Bakelite - and their descent into sex driven madness and murder. It’s not exactly very cheerful stuff, it’s a dark, cold tale with only a few lighthearted moments to brighten the way. Moore, of course, is absolutely fabulous as always. She is one hell of an actress and given the right role she can do wonders with it. Moore’s best scene takes place during a confrontation with her husband (Stephen Dillane - her co-star from The Hours), with a controlled venomous tongue and with a cigarrette casually inhaled she publicly destroys the man only to break down later when she’s left alone after a misjudged sexual encounter. There is talks of an Oscar nomination, however I think its likely to come from the more audience friendly Blindness out later in the year.

Now on to the eye candy. Eddie Redmayne plays Barbara‘s gay son, Tony. He has an uncanny resemblance to Moore (which can only be a good thing), yet he is admittedly an odd looking young man. However odd can be sexy at times and Redmayne oozes a sultry, laidback demeanor that made me fall for him instantly. He also has adorable locks. Redmayne has a number of sexual encounters with both male and female members of the cast (one such encounter being a little more disturbing than the other). His Spanish boyfriend is extremely sexy and they make a very cute couple, there’s just not enough screen time for the two of them. No doubt a few of you will also take a fancy to Hugh Dancy who arrives late in the film as Barbara’s gay friend, Sam, who takes a liking to both mother and son.

So as you can probably tell it is a very sex driven tale, but I repeat, a very disturbing one at that. There is a sense of impending doom to proceedings. It’s a very hard film to like, I appreciate the work the filmmakers and actors have done but I doubt it will be a film I would visit again soon. The main criticism I have is that whilst Moore’s Barbara is fully rounded and you can understand (if obviously not condone) her actions, Dillane and particularly Redmayne’s characters are too aloof to see the reasoning to what they go on to do. In my opinion one throwaway line is not enough to explain that a character is going insane.

Film rating: 6 - A well made if rather cold tale, that contains some terrific performances.

Queer rating: 7 - Plenty of eye candy (even the girls can get a load of a full frontal shot of Elena Anaya) but there is a lack of a solid queer relationship. Some may have issues with the queer/madness link.

Overall: 6.5 - Worth seeing to see Moore at her best and some lovely hot men. You may leave the cinema with a bad after taste however.