Elizabeth Taylor: Rebel Superstar

Taylor was an icon - the first actress to ever be paid $1m for a movie, married 8 times (to seven men, one of whom died in tragic circumstances) a close friend of James Dean and Rock Hudson, a campaigner and a survivor who nobody should forget.

Sadly though, this trite but nevertheless over-long and rather dull documentary glosses over most of the interesting stuff, bathes Taylor in an entirely one-sided glow of adoration and fails to really get to grips with who she actually was.

If you know nothing about her at all, think Kim Kardashian is somebody whose opinion matters and need a lot of entirely out-of-place 'uplifting' pop music (mostly from decades after Taylor was at her peak) to set the mood, then maybe you'll enjoy this. Otherwise though, unless you're a Taylor completist or really need to see Sharon Stone wearing a horrible pink plastic jacket, Michael Jackson's daughter surrounded by Marshall amps or Kardashian poised primly in a soft-focus apartment with catchlights bouncing off her plastic lips, you can probably give it a miss.

Much more interesting and worthwhile in my opinion is the recent HBO special, Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes. That actually treats its subject with the respect she deserves.

I only knew a few notorious headlines about Elizabeth Taylor so much of this brought new information to me. A lot of folk who knew her well giving frank information give depth to a character who has just been an icon from history. I felt the threads of her life explored here echoed through to the present day and it goes to show if we learn nothing from history we are doomed to repeat it. While she may have been one of the first women to try to take control of her celebrity and public image to influence the public, she paved the way for the millions who have followed in her footsteps. A show not just about a fascinating woman, but also about our world today.

I fully agree with reviewer nathanbron. Just to add a couple of points of interest.

If you know some about her life, not much will be added by this very badly sountracked and too long documentary, made in a flashy style more suitable to a Kardashian (who happens to be one of the producers) or to Bollywood than to the high standards of the BBC. It just rushes over her film roles, barely mentioning a few, and does not detain on important details in her personal life, as her second marriage to Richard Burton or her stage appearences.

Yet, the family having accepted to talk about her (son Christopher Wilding and ex-wife, granddaughter, etc.) and people who knew her directly, create the main point of interest (instead of the usual group of people talking about someone they did not know in most documentaries on classic stars).

MUCH better : Elizabeth The Lost Tapes. Purely in her own words.

Also interesting : Elizabeth Taylor : Facets by Kevin Burns, in the Biography series, 2003. Better coverage of her film career as well as her private life, plus she herself being interviewed.