HBO’s Hemingway & Gellhorn polarizes critics

The handful of reviews for HBO’s Hemingway & Gellhorn (premiering tonight) are all over the map. The Wall Street Journal says it’s “rich and impressively ambitious.”

Nothing in this film speaks for its mastery more decisively than its depiction of that war. Given all the time and detail lavished on that depiction, it’s clear that the film’s creators—director Philip Kaufman (“The Right Stuff”) and writers Jerry Stahl and Barbara Turner—were betting on its power. A very good bet it was, too. Scene after wonderfully crowded scene evokes the color and tone of this bitterly ideological struggle, as do the militant songs—the choruses of “Viva La Quince Brigada” that come rumbling along, irresistible accompaniment to the battle scenes.

The Hollywood Reporter agrees, “the film looks rich and resplendent, perhaps at times even too spiffy and pristine. Geoffrey Kirkland’s production design and Ruth Myers’ costume design are nothing if not resourceful and evocative, with Rogier Stoffers’ cinematography enhancing all their color and atmospheric detail.”

Quite apart from its dramatic and visual qualities, the first thing to be noted about this kaleidoscopic biographical study is the way Kidman looks. The first image you see is of a strikingly beautiful older woman, 70ish, smoking and cementing viewer connection with her brilliant blue eyes as she scorns love and asserts her hunger for “what’s happening on the outside. Action!” She does resemble Kidman but looks too authentically old to actually be her. The question occurs: Did they get someone of the correct age — Julie Christie, Charlotte Rampling, Vanessa Redgrave — to play these interview scenes?

[If you want to see how Kidman looks octogenarianized in the opening shot, check her out.]

There are negative reviews too. Seek them out at Metacritic. Right now the thing itself is on the screen in the room with me, so I’m going to un-pause the DVR and find out for myself.