What Julia Really Did? SPOILER SPOILER

Julia was starved for attention, she got it while on the stage but didn't when she was off the stage and Tom gave her that attention. With her personality, she loved attention and once Tom gave her the attention, she craved it more and more and got jealous when he showed anyone else attention.

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At least in the book, she is genuinly infatuated with Tom. It may not be "love" as such, but still, not a hoax.

"Maybe Julia was just having some fun, and that was all."

Having fun is what a 45 year old tells herself when she decides to get involved with a young man lol. It's a self-deception----"oh I'm so mature I'll be able to control the situation what's the harm in having a lil' fun" but deep down there are unfulfilled needs . Sophistication has nothing to do with a woman's choice. If her sexual and emotional needs are not satisfied no matter how independent, successful, intelligent and mature a woman is her emotional nature combined with sexual and emotional neglect makes her vulnerable to even the least worthy of lovers before she gets a grip on herself. Tom's attention and initial worship made her feel younger, beautiful and desired but deep down Julia, as every woman, wanted the emotional bond regardless of how long or how doomed the affair might be. Once they become intimate she fell in love with him. She was passion starved and he gave her that but she couldn't capture his heart and devotion because it's rather impossible. He was " in love" with her as a fan idolizing a movie star but as every young man had plenty of other options and fell in love with a young hot thing.

"didn't seem real, seemed like an actress putting it on thick"

Julia was an actress and she lived it off stage but in moments when she was totally alone we could see the real Julia and her true pain. Acting was her protection mechanism because deep inside she was as vulnerable as anybody else. As I said initially she acted like a star receiving accolades from a young man but once she broke up with her old lover, as a woman, she felt lonely and in need to fill up her sexual and emotional void.

> Seems to me that the whole affair with Tom etc. was just a whimsical lark for Julia, who at the beginning expressed her boredom with life. I wonder whether all the histrionics of taking up with the younger man, being devastated when he cheated etc. were just Julia showing off her acting talents...having fun with everyone, no sincere emotions involved at all.

I don't agree. I felt her exhaustion with where life had led her. I felt her invigoration from his attentions. Although I'm not an actress or famous, I have experienced both those stages in a similar circumstance at a similar age, and I can assure you it was true to life. She was enjoying the attention and feeling young again.

Also, I don't at all see who she would be showing off acting talents to in the privacy of her bedroom or a stream out in the countryside. Acting is work, and she got her rewards for that on the stage. Yes, there is a question how much she relied on fakery in everyday life, but let's be real, most people do this all the time and I don't think she was any different than most people in that regard. It's social survival, even if many of us are no good at it.

The last scene is important - when she's sitting by herself in the restaurant she looks sad. Plus the song being played in the background is significant - "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes".

She was definitely affected by the experience.

Annette Bening made this movie...without her, it would have been a deadly dull experience.

I think she really feel head over heels for him, enjoying the physical relationship. Then, pulling herself out of it and having nothing change in her behavior - that was the actress in her.