'Hemingway & Gellhorn' stars Nicole Kidman, Clive Owens, new on DVD and Blu-ray
DVD review of "Hemingway & Gellhorn" starring Nicole Kidman and Clive Owens "Hemingway & Gellhorn"
Nicole Kidman
Ernest Hemingway (Clive Owen) had stormy relations with lovers? No shock there.
More noteworthy in this sweeping 2012 HBO biopic is the plucky personality of his muse, Martha Gellhorn (Nicole Kidman), a magazine writer he finds in a Key West bar.
A famous writer, Hemingway inspires her to become a war correspondent, and they meet in in Spain to cover the proud war against fascism.
They finally fall in bed together in blazing passion as artillery shells rip through their Madrid hotel.
After they return, he wants them to stay home in the Caribbean while he writes novels. She aches to keep journeying to military hotspots, from Finland to D-Day, Dachau and China.
"How many wars do you need?" he asks her. Later, she muses, "When there was no war, we made our own."
The film wants us to care more about their doomed love than we do.
Kidman and Owens were nominated for Emmys and Golden Globes. The film was nominated for 15 Emmys, winning for original score and editing.
It was directed by Philip Kaufman, who was nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay for "The Unbearable Lightness of Being." The cast includes Tony Shalhoub, Molly Parker, David Strathairn, Parker Posey, Lars Ulrich and Rodrigo Santoro.
Unrated, 155 minutes. DVD extra: director commentary. The Blu-ray version adds two making-of featurettes.
Grade: B-. Extras: C+. Available Tuesday, April 2.
Email Chris Ball at cball@plaind.com
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