Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) -- John Lennon spent his teenage years torn between two women: his mother Julia, who left when he was five, and his Aunt Mimi, who took over the parenting. “Nowhere Boy” is the story of that powerful triangle.

Sam Taylor-Wood’s first full-length feature, which premiered at the London Film Festival yesterday, shows the Beatle-to-be at a time when his mother reappears and he starts his first band. The film is carried by its two female leads: Kristin Scott Thomas as Aunt Mimi, and Anne-Marie Duff as Julia.

The story begins in 1955, as young John hooks a speaker in his bedroom to the record player in his aunt and uncle’s lounge. “No, you can’t turn the Tchaikovsky over,” warns the twin-set- and-pearls Aunt Mimi, who is caring but hates to show it.

Within moments, tragedy strikes, and Uncle George is dead. “Don’t be silly,” Aunt Mimi tells the whimpering John. “It’s just the two of us now, so let’s get on with it, shall we?”

Uncle George’s burial is an occasion for John’s mother, Julia, to make a surreptitious appearance. He learns that she lives nearby, and goes knocking on her door. Julia, whose home contains a new man and two little girls, is everything Aunt Mimi is not: flirty, carefree, and a rock’n’roll fan.

Mother and son enjoy an escapade to the seaside resort of Blackpool that is romantically filmed. Julia is jubilant in her red shoulder-length curls, and twirls to the beat before a gaggle of male onlookers. “Do you know what rock’n’roll means? Sex!” she playfully informs her son.

Prodigy McCartney

Julia, who is musical, teaches John to play the banjo; Mimi buys him his first guitar. John appoints band members from among friends gathered in a men’s toilet, and is soon joined by the left-handed Paul McCartney, a slight, tea-drinking prodigy.

The movie then switches between the mother-and-aunt tug-of- war and the first gigs of “The Quarrymen.” The sisterly clashes are the best: Duff truly looks like the mother who loved him and left him, while Scott Thomas effortlessly impersonates his long-suffering middle-class aunt, who can’t help ordering Earl Grey in a local coffee shop (“You’re confusing us with Buckingham Palace, love,” quips the Liverpudlian waitress. “It’s easily done.”)

The film’s weaker segments are those involving John and his nascent band. Aaron Johnson (who is now 19) plays Lennon as a fresh-faced, brooding adolescent worthy of “The History Boys.” We get little sense of the troubled artist who grew to become an all-time legend of popular music. When Johnson lip-synchs on a bandstand with his shivering quiff, he looks unconvincing.

Otherwise, Taylor-Wood -- who has said she begged and pleaded to direct the film -- offers fine camera work and taut editing. Scenes are just long enough, bursts of dramatic intensity. “Nowhere Boy” makes you look forward to Taylor- Wood’s next one, and reach for the memoirs it was based on, those of Lennon’s stepsister Julia Baird.

Rating: ***.

What the Stars Mean:
****          Excellent
***           Good
**            Average
*             Poor
(No stars)    Worthless

(Farah Nayeri writes for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Farah Nayeri in London farahn@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 29, 2009 20:00 EDT