Florence Foster Jenkins (2016)

 

Florence Foster Jenkins is based upon the life of the 1940s-era socialite once known as “the world’s worst singer,” and if you’ve ever heard the one recording that she made during her lifetime, you’d know how she earned that moniker. Meryl Streep plays Jenkins as she prepares for a performance at Carnegie Hall, the prestigious venue that represents a sign of having achieved greatness as an artist. Only those of (alleged) great merit get to perform there. Florence, as revealed in several sequences, is not a talented singer and likely does not belong in such a hallowed performance space. No one can quite understand if she hears something different from what everyone else hears when she sings, but her love of music and her support of the arts are certainly evident. She’s also supportive of many charitable causes, and she manages to get others to let her provide entertainment as a way to raise money for those causes. The film begins with the hiring of Cosme McMoon (played with great deadpan facial expressions by Simon Helberg) to accompany her on the piano during her rehearsals and performances. McMoon realizes that Carnegie Hall will be quite a change of venue for Jenkins, given that her recitals are most often held in very controlled atmospheres. She’s typically surrounded by sycophants and/or by people paid off by her husband (Hugh Grant, slyly funny). Her husband has always tried to keep bad reviews out of her hands, and one of the funniest sequences in the film involves him trying to purchase and destroy every copy of the New York Post with an unflattering review that she might encounter. Everyone seems to be trying to bolster her ego, but she doesn’t truly come across as necessarily egotistical. In fact, her personal life is rather tragic and she herself is rather fragile. She’s dying from advanced stage syphilis and the horrific treatments for it. Her husband is cheating on her with a girlfriend he’s been keeping in another home. The balance of comedy and drama (well, maybe melodrama?) in the film is carefully maintained, and one of the centerpieces of the film, the performance at Carnegie Hall itself, is a delight with the outlandish (and deservedly Oscar-nominated) costumes and the audience participation and/or involvement in the show. It's little surprise to a current audience that gay men at the time were in on the joke for the camp value that Florence’s shows provided. What’s more notable is how Florence Foster Jenkins could overcome the resistances of the rest of the audience and make them enjoy the show too. They seemed to recognize the heart with which she performed. Through the performances of all of the key actors and the delicate handling of sensitive matters such as Florence’s illness and her marriage, Florence Foster Jenkins achieves more than just a few laughs at the expense of “the world’s worst singer.”

Oscar Nominations: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Meryl Streep) and Best Achievement in Costume Design