Starring Annette Bening, Jeremy Irons, and Bruce Greenwood. Rated PG.

Set against the backdrop of 1930s London, Being Julia is a dry-as-sherry look at the trials and tribulations of theatrical diva Julia Lambert. As portrayed by Annette Bening, Julia is at once luminous and strangely hollow. In fact, Bening's intricate turn as a self-absorbed actor appears to be controlled by an especially delicate dimmer switch. When the sheer predictability of the plot gets to be too much, you can always concentrate on Bening's face shifting from an angelic glow to flat-out disgust in less time than it takes to slice through a scone. A fascinating process, to be sure, but not enough to make this film worthwhile.

Based on a short story by W. Somerset Maugham, the Noel Coward-- like plot was dated a good decade before Bening was born. Julia is the toast of the London theatre world, but, tired of the gruelling work, she finds that her life has gone stale. She's also terrified of losing her rapidly fading ingénue status. As a masseuse tries to pound the wrinkles out of her, she wails: "There's nothing left for me but to tour Canada and Australia!"

Its fun watching Bening moan neurotically in tones that would wake Tallulah Bankhead from the dead. So much so that, at first, it seems as if we're in for a rollicking farce full of slammed doors and dropped trousers. Alas, director István Szabó isn't trolling for belly laughs. The tone of Ronald Harwood's surprisingly flat screenplay is bittersweet, at best. Paced like a stretched-out version of Masterpiece Theatre, it's kind of like watching a maddeningly polite version of All About Eve.

Julia's producer husband (Jeremy Irons, at once sympathetic and shamelessly vain) has stopped lusting for her long ago. In fact, the only thing that can get him cranked up is his wife's talent. This isn't enough for Julia, so she begins looking for something in pants that will deliver more than a round of applause. She finds it in a shallow young American (the bland Shaun Evans) who fawns over her to unprecedented lengths. Because the relationship is a lot like looking into an especially flattering mirror, Julia falls hard. Soon we're up to our riding breeches in envy, tears, and betrayal.

There are a couple of pale attempts at introducing interesting diversions. Julia receives ghostly advice from her long-dead mentor (Michael Gambon, who is rewarded with one or two lines that actually smack of wit). However--Bening's worthy portrayal aside--Being Julia turns out to be a handsomely tailored disappointment.