Review: 'Savage Grace'

Dark subject matter gets an oddly vacuous delivery.

Low-born Barbara Daly (Julianne Moore) marries the heir to the Bakelite plastics fortune (Stephen Dillane) and proceeds to make a hash of her life, as does her only child, Tony (Eddie Redmayne), in this true story directed by Tom Kalin and written by Howard Rodman based on the award-winning book by Natalie Robins and Steven M.L. Aronson.

The film includes graphic omnisexual and incestuous couplings and has an air of free-floating dread but, especially given its subject matter, it's oddly vacuous – it rarely takes hold emotionally even when its people hit bottom with a resounding thud. Grade: C (Not rated.)