One kind of film Hollywood loves (especially around award season) is the kind that explores the film industry itself. How else would we have fine though minor films like Trumbo (nominated for best actor), My Week with Marilyn (nominated for two awards, including best actress) and The Artist (winner of five trophies, including actor, director and film) given such elevated status at the Oscars. Joining their ranks is Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool, which has some very good performance but is perhaps not a story as worthy of being told as it thinks it is.

From director Paul McGuigan the film chronicles the latter years of Gloria Grahame, starlet of the 50s, and the romance she has with a younger actor. Alternating between the grim reality of 80s Liverpool and increasingly American-centric flashbacks, the film shapes a stranger-than-fiction true story, as well as exploring the appeal of Grahame. For an idea of the kind of film this is, one need only look at screenwriter Matt Greenhalgh's previous credits, which include a trio of biopics The Look of Love, Nowhere Boy, and Control. Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool is very much in keeping with those films' explorations of a specific chapter of their subject's lives.

Annette Bening is exceptional as Grahame, finding the ticks and quirks that make the part breathe. Jamie Bell is also very good and this, for me, felt like the first time he comfortably escaped the shackles of Billy Elliott, bringing an effective swagger to the part. They share a strong chemistry together, and it is certainly refreshing for the age-difference of the pair to be reversed from the norm. The film is at its most interesting when it explicitly references this, leading to some nice sparky exchanges. There is also sterling support from Julie Waters, Kenneth Graham and Stephen Graham (in a questionable wig) even if their roles feel a tad monotone.

The film has some quaint touches and some very nice visual cues, particularly the transition from the primary narrative to flashbacks of the couple's relationship. Yet this still couldn't make me particularly interested in this film. I understand the draw to the so-called Golden Age of Hollywood but I don't believe every story that could be told about it should be. At one point the couple go to a cinema to watch Alien and it prompted my strongest response to the entire film, which was that I wished I was watching that classic horror instead. Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool is as fine and minor as previous films about Hollywood and I very much expect it to receive a self-congratulatory nomination or two at next year's ceremony.

This is a London Film Festival preview and Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool will be released on Friday 17th November.