Gloria Bell, like The Upside, is perhaps when my movie watching has jumped the shark. The minute I saw the trailer for Gloria Bell, I immediately knew the movie was a remake of a Chilean film called Gloria. And from what I’ve learned from watching The Upside, I was pretty sure the American remake would be a shot for shot recreation of the movie. Thankfully, like Paulina Garcia in the Chilean film, Julianne Moore takes Sebastian Lelio’s story and gives it meaning and substance with her prodigious talents.
Gloria Bell (Julianne Moore) has just sent seen her daughter Anne (Caren Pistorius) off on a trip with her long term boyfriend, and her son Peter (Michael Cera) is busy raising a baby. Gloria is also divorced from the kids’ father Dustin (Brad Garrett). So with no real responsibilities, what does Gloria do? She does her day to day job, and tries a bunch of stuff, including improv classes, paintballing, and clubbing with other divorcees. During one such night, she hooks up with Arnold (John Turturro), and starts a relationship with him. However, John’s having a more difficult time than Gloria separating his past married life from his current single one.
No joke, Gloria Bell is a shot for shot remake of Gloria, only using different locations. I think Sebastian Lelio, the director of Gloria, wanted to see if the material works in the United States the same way it did for Gloria in Chile, because the same strengths and weaknesses in Gloria exist in Gloria Bell. The best parts of the movie are when Julianne Moore (or Paulina Garcia) are just trying new things. In general, movies about older adults figuring out what their life is going to be without the day to day responsibility of raising a family is untapped movie territory across the world. It’s not like Gloria forgets her family, but because of time and life experience, moments of family drama don’t eat at her like they probably did when she was younger, letting the happy go lucky woman experience new things, pick up hobbies, and maybe fool around a bit. Seeing Gloria opening up and willingly make mistakes while always having fun is pretty inspiring stuff.
The melodrama with Arnold is still borderline ridiculous and cruel to the guy, who only feels like a real person because of John Turturro. There’s multiple instances of irredeemable behavior that you’d think Gloria might just shrug off and let go but she never does. Maybe that’s the point, but it certainly paints Gloria in a more stupid light than she actually is. It helps also that Turturro and Moore are really good together, with each sort of playing their opposites: Moore the charismatic charmer, and Turturro a quiet shell of a man.
Gloria Bell is hard to dislike because it’s heart is in the right place. It’s a good reminder to me that a parent or grand parent is also a person, with wants and desires they put aside to raise you. After their job is done, it’s not scary to watch them do some crazy things as long as they appear happy and aren’t hurting anyone. Gloria Bell is also a reminder that world is a small place, and that a story that works in Chile can work just as well anywhere on the planet.