Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction…

Based on the memoirs of Peter Turner, once neighbour to one of the legendary stars of the silver screen, Gloria Grahame. Striking up a friendship innocently enough by helping her to practice salsa, a flirtation begins, and its not long before he begins a full-blown romance with a woman twenty years his senior.

Years after their love affair has ended, Gloria (Annette Bening) collapses on the stage and asked to live with Peter’s parents in Liverpool, convinced that it will help her recover from her cancer. Peter (Jamie Bell) is still is love with her, and hardly in a position to say no regardless. The film deftly weaves between her last days and their romance.

Annette Bening does a bravura turn as Gloria, oscillating between vulnerable, obstinate, seductive and petulant, though always with warmth and effervescence. Joined by a stellar cast of Jamie Bell, Julie Walters and Vanessa Redgrave, it is the chemistry between the two leads that makes this so engaging. Watching Peter look after Gloria near the end is genuinely touching, and cinema at its best.

Gail Marshall