Florence Foster Jenkins (2016)

Review

110min

Genre:      Fact-based, Comedy, Drama, Music

Director:   Stephen Frears

Cast:        Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant, Simon Helberg…and more

Writer:     Nicholas Martin

-Synopsis-

Meryl Streep stars in a comedy/drama based on the remarkable true story of Florence Foster Jenkins, an early 20th century New York heiress and socialite who became an opera singer despite having a voice that was so bad it became the stuff of legend.

Director Stephen Frears (Philomena, High Fidelity) applies his subtle and heartfelt touch to a unique story in this quirky and charming period comedy/drama, featuring the current great dame of the silver screen Meryl Streep taking on the role of the not-so-great dame of the operatic stage.

This is not really a biopic in a traditional way, this film takes place in the twilight of Jenkins’ s life and at the tail-end of her singing “career” in the mid 1940s towards the end of World War II.

Well after she’d already established herself as a New York socialite and club owner, patron of the arts and of course singer to “selective” audiences, encouraged and enabled by friends, dependants and her chief supporter/manager husband St. Clair Bayfield, played by Hugh Grant. A failed British Shakespearean actor with whom Jenkins had an unusual co-dependent relationship which was surprisingly touching, and which essentially forms the heart of ‘Florence Foster Jenkins’.

The production designs are impressive and Frears paints a stylishly idyllic portrait of wartime New York, but of course the elephant in any room in which Jenkins finds herself is the singing, and when Meryl Streep lets rip you will be appalled, delighted and amused in equal measure.

Despite the benefit of extensive vocal lessons and a musical background as an accomplished child pianist; Jenkins was notorious for having little sense of pitch or rhythm and Meryl Streep does her level worst to recreate this, but her own qualities as an accomplished singer tend to creep in slightly and she never quite reaches that “dying Chihuahua” level… although she gets amusingly close.

We get to see some exploration of a complex character with physical and psychological ailments, who balanced a slight egoism and heavy delusion with an earnest love of music and a determination to achieve a goal, exemplified in the final great performance in the film. There is also a passing reference to the chasm which often exists between “fans” and “critics”, regardless of the “art” in question.

But ultimately ‘Florence Foster Jenkins’ is not particularly profound or memorable in any real way; this is a predictable, sentimental, light and charming “dramedy” which works thanks to the steady hand of its director and a towering turn from the great Meryl Streep of course, but also thanks to Hugh Grant’s most nuanced and best performance in many years.

The Bottom Line…

Yet another captivating performance from Meryl Streep and a refreshing one from Hugh Grant make a predictable, sentimental and unapologetically sympathetic dramedy fun to watch. ‘Florence Foster Jenkins’ won’t trouble any award shows but is an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours.

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Similar films you may like (Home Video)

The Lady in the Van (2015)

British film adaptation of the autobiographical play by Alan Bennett, starring Maggie Smith as an eccentric and ornery transient elderly lady who lived in a battered van on his driveway and with whom he developed an unlikely bond.

Directed by Nicholas Hytner and starring Maggie Smith, Alex Jennings and Jim Broadbent among others.

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