Historic True Crime at the Cinema: Savage Grace

It would take a writer who knows a lot more adjectives than I do to properly describe the Baekeland murder case.

It's the twisted tale of Barbara Baekeland, a woman so warped by wealth that she thought she could cure her son of homosexuality by seducing him.  Filthy rich indeed.

The film adaptation of the true crime book by Natalie Robins and Steven Aranson, Savage Grace: The True Story of Fatal Relations in a Rich and Famous American Family, just roared through the Sundance film festival and caught the attention of the folks at Blogging Sundance. It stars Julianne Moore as maternal seductress and murderee. The book was written twenty-some years ago by Natalie Robins and Steven M. L. Aronson. Time Magazine didn't know what to make of it, but the Times loved it.

These are such strange and unsettling tales - and extremely rare, isn't that right?  Do you recall Sante and Kenny Kimes? And there's Oedipus.... Do you know of other mother-son love murders? My, my, womankind, always producing a variation to astound us anew.

For more on the movie: IMBD on Savage Grace

Comments

[Lidian]

This is a terrific book and a fascinating case - I was so glad to see this post as I have been interested in the Baekelands ever since I got hold of the book.

This is a terrific blog and I have bookmarked/linked you, hope you do not mind -

I have written a little about a murder case in my family in Victorian Brooklyn on my blog. Plan to write more as I research it.