"The first star turn belongs to Bening in 'Being Julia', which positions her as a Bette Davis—style aging diva of the 1930's London stage, as prone to high drama in her personal life as she is in her art. Directed by Szabo ("Mephisto"), with a Ronald Harwood script adapted from the novel by W. Somerset Maugham, this is throwback, claws—drawn, chic—costumed fun with a killer third act, and Bening has never been better."—Janice Page, BOSTON GLOBE
"'Being Julia' takes you back to a time of innocence and splendor as war clouds gathered. Annette Benning gives one of the finest, most nuanced, intelligent performances of her career. Bruce Greenwood gives a daring portrayal and Jeremy Irons is perfectly cast. You'll love this movie!"—Jeffrey Lyons, NBC
"Annette Bening gives a wickedly funny tour—de—force performance...she glides seamlessly between on stage melodrama and an offstage sexual reawakening, driving a story that culminates in a third act of laugh out—loud showbizs revenge. Jeremy Irons is typically sharp...but it is Bening who commands this show from beginning to end!"—Janice Page, BOSTON GLOBE
"A delightful period romp . . .It's a hilarious, full—bodied turn that has folks here comparing Bening to real—life stage divas."—Glenn Lovell, SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
"Sprightly, nuanced performance."—Dessson Thomson, WASHINGTON POST
"It's definitely(Jeremy) Irons' year; He's also outstanding as Bening's manager—husband in Being Julia."—Glenn Lovell, SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
"Her dazzling star turn in Being Julia is pretty radiant, too. Oscar—winner Ronald (The Pianist) Harwood's witty, sophisticated script adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's elegant 1937 novella "Theatre," directed by the great Hungarian director Istvan Szabo . . .a comedic triumph of stylish manners . . .Ms. Bening not only holds her own but steals the show, and she is gorgeous and hilarious while doing it. Imagine a vehicle for Bette Davis created by Oscar Wilde."—Rex Reed, NEW YORK OBSERVER
"Annette Bening, as a wily actress in love but only momentarily made foolish, gives an Oscar—worthy performance."—Liz Smith
"It's all about Bening! . . . Bening is pure charisma in this big, bravura, take—no—prisoners performance . . . Bening is diva—licious!"—Thelma Adams, US WEEKLY
"Annette Bening lights up the screen...a Tour de force performance! Full of sparkle and urbanity! And though you may be surprised at the casting, the American actress has a lot of elegant, witchy fun with the part. So do the moviemakers, who often make "Julia" seem a bit of a holiday… glamorously amusing… Julia might have been a role for Vivien Leigh, Bette Davis or Katharine Hepburn in their day, though their days didn't include (until the very end) this kind of sexual frankness——and it becomes the right role for the radiantly sensual Bening here. Maugham, a one—time medical student, tended to view the world realistically and even harshly. But time often mellows, and "Being Julia" is becomes a kind of fairytale romantic comedy, even though youth here is the villain and age the beauty. Bening shines, and the film shines too."—Michael Wilmington, CHICAGO TRIBUNE
"Beauty, talent and charisma are such rare commodities these days that we are lucky to find an actress with even one of them. In Being Julia, Annette Bening miraculously displays all three at the same time . . . She turns this glistening, gold—leaf adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's novella Theatre into an effervescent personal triumph and provides an entertaining diversion for jaded audiences longing for a break from idiot comedies and wrist—slashing dramas of human suffering . . . grab a chunk of pure pleasure while it lasts. In a kind of Merchant—Ivory version of All About Eve . . . Her laugh begins deep down around her waist and quivers ecstatically to the surface like champagne bubbles. She is luminous throughout. Jeremy Irons matches her every movement as the cuckolded husband who gets a taste of his own diffident medicine when Julia harvests her wild oats. I like the way the marvelous writer Ronald Harwood (The Dresser) sets up their relationship in his smart, sophisticated screenplay . . . Like Bette Davis and Gary Merrill in All About Eve, they give each other a run for their money, a mutual respect based on honesty and the room to make fools of themselves . . . Director Szabó stages Being Julia for light, bright fun."—Rex Reed, NEW YORK OBSERVER
"Part of the movie's fascination is watching Ms. Bening play a role that tantalizingly mirrors her own position in today's movie world — and she does it with wit, sparkle, and all—out energy....a smart treat."—David Sterritt, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
"Scintillating...Director István Szabó and writer Ronald Harwood (both long drawn to exploring the lives of performers), Bening and a lustrous ensemble cast have brought to vivid life W. Somerset Maugham's 1937 novella "Theatre."...Bening is glorious Beyond what it means to be an actress, Bening reveals what it means to be a woman"—Kevin Thomas, LOS ANGELES TIMES
"Annette Bening gets the role of a lifetime in Being Julia, and she runs off with the movie. Bening is by turns charming, narcissistic, brave, cruelly vengeful, madly jealous and tragic. She punctuates much of her discourse with a trilling laugh that both annoys and seduces. One can see Bening relishes playing Julia, a British actress who assuages a whopper of a midlife crisis...She single—handedly makes the movie worth seeing."—Claudia Puig, USA TODAY
"A pleasantly diverting period romp that Annette Bening turns into a wickedly funny tour de force. The supremely talented Bening ("American Beauty"), who graces the big screen all too infrequently these days, pulls out all the stops playing a limelight—loving stage diva in 1930s London, and her vivacious performance should guarantee her a spot on Oscar's list of Best Actress nominees."—Meghan Lehmann, NEW YORK POST
"Bening's performance approaches the pantheon."—Peter Rainer, NEW YORK MAGAZINE
"A brightly colored performance by Annette Bening, whose quick, high—spirited charm is on marvelous display. As Julia Lambert, a star of the prewar London theater uneasily stepping into middle age, Ms. Bening shows both fragility and dignity, managing a hectic plot with glamour and aplomb . . . She throws herself into it with a mixture of calculation and abandon that only a seasoned thespian could pull off. Part of the delight of watching Ms. Bening pivot gracefully from steely composure to histrionic distress comes from the feeling of witnessing two bravura performances at once. She gives, "Being Julia" a giddy, reckless effervescence . . . Ms. Bening walks right up to the edge of melodramatic bathos . . .and then, in a wonderful climactic coup de theatre, turns it all into farce. . . . Ms. Bening, pretending to be Julia (who is always pretending to be herself), is sensational."—A.O. Scott, NEW YORK TIMES
"Bening is spellbinding . . .Of the many gifts that Annette Bening brings to her roles, the most endearing may be a sense of self—enjoyment. She seems genuinely—and justifiably—pleased to be who she is. This quality shines through every one of her scenes in "Being Julia," even when the actress she's playing—Julia Lambert, the reigning stage star of pre—World War II London—is supposed to be seized by self—doubt. Just like Julia, she prevails over lesser mortals with unfailing zest.
When this woman pleads, it's with a deep, rich purr. When she plays at self—effacement, her humility is incandescent. The move's coda is memorable—the camera studying Ms. Bening's face as Julia, alone in a restaurant after the show, savors what she's just done, then looks out to a middle distance, as if to her immediate future, with an equanimity that slowly blooms into fondness. Talk about being ready for a closeup."—Joe Morgenstern, WALL STREET JOURNAL
"A dazzling star turn! Annette Bening is downright giddy in "Being Julia," and I'm not sure if it's because she left Warren at home with the kids or because she's sinking her teeth into the kind of role that comes around once in a career…she fends off all comers with a performance that's astonishing for both its happy invention and technical overkill. Julia flits, flirts, gives in to passion, draws aside to panic, puts on the mask again, schemes, droops, and triumphs, and by the final scenes role and performance are reflecting each other in an infinite hall of mirrors. This is as dazzling as comebacks get, but you're never sure if you're watching a woman who'd do anything for an audience or an actress who'd do anything for an Oscar."—Ty Burr, BOSTON GLOBE
"Bening steals show! Bening is funny, proud, neurotic and sexually invigorated… A refreshing aspect of the character, or at least in the way Bening plays her, is that she's not a stereotypical diva. She can be warm and witty, joking with intimates from the theater and expressing concern for her teenage son."—Carla Meyer, San Francisco Chronicle
"Her performance is a comic testament to the vitality of middle—aged women and an affecting portrait of a master thespian who can't get a handle on who she is after the mask comes off."—Anita Katz, San Francisco Examiner
"As Julia Lambert she delivers a cunning, beautifully modulated, seriocomic portrait of a woman who can't not act."—David Ansen, NEWSWEEK
"Annette Bening does luminous, vulnerable turn in elegant, droll period piece."—Jane Horwitz, THE WASHINGTON POST/WEEKEND
"Bening a gem . . . Bening makes the movie into something finer still. She digs into a pagoda—size heap of roles and roles—within—roles and pulls them all out, one by one, deftly. You feel the fun of the thing, as well as the appropriate heartache. She also has the smarts not to Paltrow around with an English accent but simply speak in a neutral New England/mid—Atlantic voice. You stop paying attention to that and concentrate on the performance instead. This Julia's worth that investment. Instead of being a tiresome diva, she's surprisingly affecting and fragile. And when it does come to vamping it up, her final act is a treat worth waiting for."—Desson Thomson, THE WASHINGTON POST
"A devilishly delicious tale . . . Bening, behind her high—voltage eyes and a fair shake at an English accent, plays the great theatrical legend Lambert, a diva's diva whom we discover holding forth magisterially in a flamboyant melodrama in her own West End theater."—Stephen Hunter, THE WASHINGTON POST
"A sublime performance . . . Add Annette Bening to a list that includes Bette Davis, Gloria Swanson, Dianne Wiest, Meryl Streep and Geraldine Page. When it comes to Being Julia, Ms. Bening is a stunner . . . It's Ms. Bening's consummate victory. She is to Being Julia what Jamie Foxx is to Ray: indispensable."—Philip Wuntch, DALLAS MORNING NEWS