No. 38. (2020) BURNT ORANGE HERESY. July 13th.

Film No 38 (2020)  July 11th.  6:30 PM  LUNA PALACE Windsor,  Nedlands . 

"I value a Debney, James, and I'd like you to procure one for me". (Cassidy answers James's question as to why he (Cassidy) has been so good to him).

Here I was, thinking Mick Jagger must have a production share in this strange, if slightly beguiling noir thriller but no, he got the role on merit. The word is, director Giuseppe Capotondi had heard Jagger was looking for an acting role, sent him the script, Jagger liked it and Capotondi hired him ...... why, I ask?

Enough of the mediocre aspect to Burnt because overall the film is beguiling, it's hard to peel ones eyes from the screen. The art world will hardly seem the same clean cut industry of treasured wall decorations after this.

James (Claes Bang) and Berenice (Elizabeth Debicki) have chemistry from scene one. We never know what motivates them and, their union had danger written all over it. James is an art critic looking for a scam, that's where Jagger's Cassidy and Sutherland's world renowned painter Jerome Debney provide the spark, quite literally!

Capatondi's only other feature is, The Double Hour (2009), and there seems to be a common theme in his work, that of sexually charged, damaged couples, living on the edge and heading in the wrong direction. There are shades of Hitchcock in Burnt which makes me wonder whether Alfred would have cast Jagger in a lead role. Debicki is brilliant and her scenes with Sutherland steal the show. A fascination, that's how I'd best describe Burnt Orange Heresy. 8GUMS.