Savage GraceMovie Reviews

Poster art for "Savage Grace."

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So-so
Avg. Critic Score: 51 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
17 not for kids
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 75
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Money, madness, incest and murder! Just the recipe for a twisted mesmerizer of a movie, if it doesn't creep you out. Read full review

  • 70
    The Hollywood Reporter |

    U.S. viewers may be put off by its tangled sexual motifs and find its implied social critique a little close to the bone. But even Stateside, Julianne Moore, in her most challenging role in years, will win plaudits and attract mature audiences to a thoroughly absorbing and polished piece of work. Read full review

  • 67
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    The director, Tom Kalin, stages acid duels, but he should have provided more psychological structure. Though Moore, a great actress, turns fury into verbal music, we're never quite sure what's driving her. Read full review

  • 63
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    Living these lives, for these people, must have been sad and tedious, and so, inevitably, is their story, and it must be said, the film about it. Read full review

  • 60
    Los Angeles Times |

    It's tough to think of another film in which sex between a mother and her son is not necessarily the worst thing that happens. Read full review

  • 50
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    Savage Grace is a thoroughly disturbing story, told in a detached style rendering the overall experience an unsettling blend of lurid and vacuous. Read full review

  • 50
    Variety |

    Scripter Howard A. Rodman's treatment of an enthralling book is more a series of vignettes rather than a fully connected work, and helmer Tom Kalin seems unable to decide how much Sirkian melodrama to introduce into the heady mix. Gone are the reasons to be fascinated with these people, merely replaced with maddeningly over-arch dialogue and struggles with characterization. Read full review

  • 40
    The New York Times | A.O. Scott

    Proust might have known what to do with the Baekelands, but Mr. Kalin and Mr. Rodman don't make much more of them than the mess they apparently already were. Read full review

  • 30
    Washington Post | Stephen Hunter

    What Kalin fails to provide in the slightest degree is energy. The movie just sloshes along in a heavy, slightly overdone way. Read full review

  • 25
    San Francisco Chronicle | Walter Addiego

    An unbroken flow of sad or nasty incidents. Read full review

View more reviews for Savage Grace on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says not for kids Not-for-kids drama is showcase for Julianne Moore.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this very mature indie film, which is based on a true story, is steeped in amoral and sexual behavior among the idle rich -- culminating in a sexual relationship between a mother and her son. The movie unflinchingly depicts raw, uncomfortable moments of sexual behavior and contains nudity (including full-frontal female), same-sex encounters, implied underage sex, and more. There's also plenty of language, and some violence, as well as drinking, smoking, and drug use. Teens who know star Julianne Moore's terrific acting work from bigger films like Children of Men and The Hours may be intrigued to see her here, but it's an edgy, uncomfortable film that's definitely not meant for kids of any age.
  • Families can talk about whether the Baekeland family's power and privilege mean they don't have to follow conventional rules of society. Is it true that the rich are different? Is that a good thing? How do movies and TV shows tend to depict the wealthy? Do you think they're like that in real life? Families can also discuss what a film like this -- with its tough subject matter and unflinching discussion of sexual behavior -- is trying to do. Is the film an exploration of real human behavior or a salacious tale of sex and death intended for shock value?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: The idle rich discuss hypothetical actions for $10 million -- eating human flesh, sleeping with a friend. Much is made of the differences between the well-off and the less-fortunate. A character quotes their great-grandfather's axiom that "One of the uses of money is that it allows one not to live with the consequences of our mistakes." Many sexual taboos are violated heedlessly and eagerly (including a woman who has a sexual relationship with her own son).
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: Guns are fired; viewers see the aftermath of a suicide attempt, including bloody wounds; a character is fatally stabbed.
  • sex false5 Sex: Lots of graphic discussion of sex, and extensive male and female nudity (including full-frontal female). Moore's character actively seeks out random encounters with strangers and is seen in lingerie; in one scene, her hand is shown on a partner's pants fly as she prepares to manually stimulate him (the actual act isn't shown on screen). There's rough (albeit consensual) sex; same-sex encounters between consenting adults, extended scenes of sexual activity and orgasm. An experimental sexual act between two underage boys is implied, and a three-person sexual encounter is seen when Moore's character begins a sexual relationship with her own son.
  • language false5 Language: Language includes "f--k" and "f--king," "tits," "ass," (in both English and French), "c--ks," "s--t," "whore," "c--t," "come," and more.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Brands like Chanel are mentioned, and there's extensive discussion of "Bakelite," the first synthetic material (and the source of the Baekeland fortune).
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Lots of period-accurate cigarette smoking, plus cigar smoking, marijuana use, constant drinking and discussion of hangovers, etc. A supporting character smuggles hashish; another character abuses sleeping aids as part of a suicide attempt.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

Savage Grace Movie Ratings + Reviews

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