Film: Bel Ami (15)

Directors: Declan Donnellan, Nick Ormerod

Good friend, eh? Well, if you’re a Robert Pattinson fan and can’t wait until the next Twilight film for your fix this is exactly where any good friend would take you, with RPatz on top smouldering form.

Along similar lines to Vanity Fair, but with an unscrupulous male protagonist and in the French 19th century instead of the English, this tells the rags to riches story of Georges Duroy, whose charm and bed-hopping antics see him rise up the social echelons into high society, through questionable morals and ruthless ambition. Smoulder, smoulder and such-like behaviour.

Based upon the bestselling classic novel by Guy De Maupassant, it’s the women that hold the power young Georges so craves, and these are beautifully cast as the composed and sizzlingly authoritative Christina Ricci, Uma Thurman and Kristin Scott Thomas. Also featuring the talents of James Lance, Philip Glenister and Colm Meaney, this is a rather splendid line-up. Here’s hoping this film writing debut from Rachel Bennette (previously warmed up with TV’s Lark Rise To Candleford and Lewis) captures all of the illicit sauce of Dangerous Liaisons, the last French period romp to tickle on a large scale.

Released Friday 9 March
Showing at Odeon and Cineworld