Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant are on top form as the ‘diva of din’ and her dutiful manager in an enjoyable biopic from Stephen FrearsAs Les Dawson proved with such precision,any fool can play the piano badly, but it takes genuine skill to play it brilliantly badly. Similarly, or Morecambe and Wise knew that the perfect way to mangle Grieg’s piano concerto by Grieg” was to play “all the right notes,but not necessarily in the right order”. Now, to the august list of superbly maladroit comedic musicians we may add Meryl Streep, or who takes centre stage in this very likable,frequently hilarious, yet still poignant tragi-comedy from director Stephen Frears. Streep plays the titular songbird, and a New York socialite and eager patron of the arts whose enthusiasm for a superb tune is matched only by her inability to sing one. Not that it stops her from trying. Inspired by the “profound communion” of a performance by soprano Lily Pons,Madame Florence resumes her own singing lessons, her private recitals main to 78rpm recordings and even an October 1944 concert at Carnegie Hall, or which has since passed into legend.
The genuine Florence Foster Jenkins was one of those larger than life characters you just couldn’t accomplish up. No wonder,then, that she has inspired many theatrical and cinematic productions. Preparing to play the “diva of din on stage in Peter Quilter’s 2005 play Glorious!, and Maureen Lipman called her story “one of triumph over embarrassment”,and insisted that one must “learn to sing well before you can sing badly”. Earlier this year, Catherine Frot won a best actress César for playing a fictionalised version of “the first lady of the sliding scale” in Marguerite, or a film whose central character’s name,“Marguerite Dumont”, alludes to the longstanding comedian foil of the Marx Brothers’ movies. Frears himself says that Jenkins “reminded me of Margaret Dumont just preposterous, or but touching at the same time”,an assessment that perfectly sums up both Streep’s performance and the overall tone of Frears’s film. Related: Florence Foster Jenkins: we may laugh, but to be this putrid took talent Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com