
Wealthy music producer Alan James lives with his beautiful 30-years-younger Russian girlfriend Laura, whom he met while he was in Russia on business; they have a three-year-old son. Alan is a music legend, having produced Black music during the '60s and '70s, the golden era of Memphis Soul. They live an affluent life in a sprawling mansion on the banks of the Mississippi in Memphis, Tennessee. Although she is comfortable, Laura feels lonely and isolated. Alan has an estranged... (Full plot summary below)
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Wealthy music producer Alan James lives with his beautiful 30-years-younger Russian girlfriend Laura, whom he met while he was in Russia on business; they have a three-year-old son. Alan is a music legend, having produced Black music during the '60s and '70s, the golden era of Memphis Soul. They live an affluent life in a sprawling mansion on the banks of the Mississippi in Memphis, Tennessee. Although she is comfortable, Laura feels lonely and isolated. Alan has an estranged adult son from a previous marriage, literature professor Michael, who lives with his wife in Los Angeles. Michael and his father have a complicated relationship marred by disappointment, hampered by jealousy, and fueled by anger. When Michael comes to Memphis for the first time in many years, although he had at first disapproved of his father's young girlfriend, closer to his age than his father's, a painful and dangerous love affair develops between him and Laura. As this forbidden passion deepens in Memphis' bars and bedrooms, Laura comes to an illuminating self-confrontation that will change her soul and life forever.
Leave your thoughts about Forty Shades of Blue.
| Village VoiceMichael AtkinsonIt's Korzun's film, and she is in complete control of her character, never divulging too much of the haunted woman under the studied facade of American hotsiness. |
| Los Angeles Daily NewsBob StraussIt feels mighty real, and veteran Torn's almost all-impulse performance adds greatly to the sense of life unfolding, in its messy uncertainty and grabbed-for satisfaction, right before our eyes. |
| Dallas Morning NewsChris VognarIra Sachs' story of hereditary malaise, passed from father to son, will disappoint anyone looking for a propulsive narrative or slam-bang excitement. But it will amply reward patient viewers who prefer a slow burn. |
| Salon.comAndrew O'HehirA compelling family melodrama somewhat in the manner of late John Cassavetes or early Robert Altman…the film combines high production values, terrific acting and a distinctively American lyricism in a combination you hardly ever see these days. |
| L.A. WeeklyScott FoundasThis is still powerful, undiluted stuff -- a jolt of backwoods moonshine whiskey injected into the veins of the atrophied American relationship drama. |
| Groucho ReviewsPeter CanaveseHas the plaintive, lyrical feel of a classic Southern short-story. |
| The New York TimesDana StevensAlan, who Mr. Sachs has said was based on his own father, is a great character - passionate, complicated, bursting with life. Those words also describe Mr. Torn's performance. |
| Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumDirector Ira Sachs moves to the rhythms of his native Memphis, teasing emotional resonance out of geography. |
| Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionEleanor Ringel CaterForty Shades of Blue hits you like a shot of moonshine whiskey. Right in the gut, with a buzz that just keeps going. |
| Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertI despised the character of Alan James so sincerely that I had to haul back at one point to remind myself that, hey, I've met Rip Torn and he's a nice guy and he's only acting. |