Berlin Flashback: Robert Pattinson Brought ‘Bel Ami’ to the Berlinale

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In 2012, Robert Pattinson sought to move beyond his portrayal of Edward Cullen in the Twilight films by attending the Berlinale. By this time, four out of five Twilight movies had been released, yet Pattinson was already charting a new path, taking on the lead role in Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod’s Bel Ami. This costume drama was adapted from Guy de Maupassant’s 1885 novel of the same name. In it, Pattinson played a character who was both ambitious and amoral – a former soldier striving to better his circumstances by seducing the wives of influential men, portrayed by Christina Ricci, Uma Thurman, and Kristin Scott Thomas.

At the premiere of the movie, Robert Pattinson sported a bald look instead of his usual messy hair as Edward Cullen, expressing to reporters that he hoped Twilight fans would be receptive to his new approach. “Trying to recreate the same thing just for the sake of attracting an audience is the biggest injustice you can do to them,” he stated. However, instead of praising Pattinson for taking a risk, critics gave a general thumbs down. David Rooney from THR wrote: “There’s no depth or complexity in the poorly cast actor’s one-dimensional portrayal. He seems fundamentally unsuited for the role.” With a low rating of 28% on Rotten Tomatoes, the film released by Magnolia Pictures earned only $120,462 domestically and slightly more, $9.4 million, worldwide.

Indeed, Robert Pattinson has solidified his reputation as a critically acclaimed and commercially successful actor through films like Josh and Benny Safdie’s “Good Time”, Robert Eggers’ “The Lighthouse”, Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet”, and Matt Reeves’ “The Batman”. This year, he’ll be gracing the festival with what might be his most daring project to date – Bong Joon-ho’s “Mickey 17”, a sci-fi satire that finds him portraying multiple identical clones.

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2025-02-15 15:24