I never felt drawn to this and was particularly put off by a rather crass advertising campaign at the time of release. However, I do like Gloria Grahame and had originally missed the fact that this is based upon a true story involving her last years here in England with a young Liverpudlian. It is carefully crafted with a fine evocation of the time (late 70s) but it is rather slow. There must have been much detail in the original book that was perhaps not translatable onto the screen or was more likely repetitive. Either way although there are some fine moments, there is really not enough going on her to hold our attention. Annette Bening does amazingly well to suggest the American star and Julie Walters very capable as the lad's mother while Vanessa Redgrave is good in a cameo as Gloria's mother in the US. Unfortunately Jamie Bell is barely adequate and not at all convincing and it is particularly worrying that the big Romeo and Juliet scene towards the end is so underplayed as to have barely been worth the effort.