Review – Beatriz at Dinner
Salma Hayek may want to start prepping her Oscar speech because she is truly remarkable in Beatriz at Dinner. This is a wonderful film about cultural differences that features two of the best performances of 2017.
Beatriz (Hayek) is a holistic medicine practitioner and physical therapist. While doing a house-call massage session for one of her closest and wealthiest clients, she is invited to stay for a dinner party after her car breaks down. During dinner, tensions rise as Beatriz’s culture and ideas clash with this group of upper class millionaires, particularly Doug Strutt (John Lithgow).
On its surface, Beatriz at Dinner is a simple movie reminiscent of the “fish-out-of-water” genre. But the complexities and depth of this movie are something to behold. At a runtime of under 90 minutes, this films covers a number of issues that are relevant today that deserve to be talked about as soon as the movie is over. Beatriz is a very spiritual person. She believes in good spirits, reincarnation, karma, the belief that every life matters, whether human or animal, and being yourself. However, she is surrounded by people who don’t believe in any of this. These are people who drive expensive cars and wear flashy outfits and believe that money buys true happiness. They don’t understand, nor are willing to understand, anything different than the million dollar life style they live. Beatriz and this group of people couldn’t be more unalike, and director Miguel Arteta knows how to make us feel uncomfortable during their exchanges. These are smart conversations and moments that are filled with tension and are neutral in opinion. It is great to watch and makes you really think about our current society.
As I said at the beginning, Hayek is sensational. This is easily one of the best performances of her career and she has had plenty. As Beatriz, she makes us feel every emotion possible. She’s sweet, innocent, naive, sad, and sympathetic, yet infuriating at times too. We feel for every issue she has and just want to best for Beatriz even when she may act out of order. It is a fully realized performance by Hayek and should garner her a lot of awards attention later in the year. John Lithgow gives an equally impressive performance as the smarmy Strutt. For a character so despicable and arrogant, you don’t hate him. Lithgow really finds empathy in Strutt and conveys that to us. There are scenes where we hate him and others where we understand where he is coming from on some of his issues. We actually feel bad for him in a couple scenes when Beatriz unexpectedly snaps. Watching the two of them go at it is cinematic fireworks.
While the cinemas are filled with big budget, mindless blockbusters, take some time out and support this small, thought-provoking film. Beatriz at Dinner is one of the hidden gems of the summer. It is a timely, compelling, wonderfully acted film with great talking points.