I'm gonna be honest, 'Florence Foster Jenkins' is not an unforgettable movie, but more kind of a tender and funny experience made unforgettable by Meryl's once again striking performance. She's the best in town, it's almost lame how perfect and convincing and unique she can be in every single project, and Hugh Grant and Simon Helberg are simply exquisite with their 'little' white lies. Because, yes, this is was this movie is about. Florence is a passionate rich woman who really can't sing, but she simply loves music so much she was even capable of fighting syphilis for over 50 years, with a caring - yet selfish and lying - husband always by her side. And that's probably one of the most controversial aspects of the picture. Florence and St Clair shared a totally platonic relationship for 35 years, and as the movie goes on we're faced with the fact that her husband is cheating on her, lying to her and probably even using her assets and power in the industry to fulfill his never-accomplished acting career. Nevertheless, the infinite tenderness between them felt totally real and genuine and, probably mostly because of the endless flaws of their marriage, extremely real. Florence is a lovely woman, and that's probably why Cosmè McMoon, her young pianist, with his amused (and amusing) grimaces and giggles kind of embodies the viewer himself: we are Cosmè. We do realize how bad Florence's singing skills are; we are confused, we totally don't get how people could barely contain their laughs in the theater every time she sang, but as long as we see the effort she puts in everything she desperately tries to learn, we can't resist and we fall in love with her. We become her dearest friend, her left hand when she can't play the piano with both (there's a beautiful scene in Cosmè's loft when they play piano together, and she can't use her left hand because of her illness and they start playing along in one of the most beautiful shots of the movie).
Huge shout out to the entire art department: costumes, make-up and set design are the buttonhole of the picture. Direction and cinematography are classic and clean, colors are simply delightful and embrace the dreamy mood of the picture. 'Florence Foster Jenkins' is, again, not an unforgettable movie, but surely a nice story acted and displayed brilliantly.
Huge shout out to the entire art department: costumes, make-up and set design are the buttonhole of the picture. Direction and cinematography are classic and clean, colors are simply delightful and embrace the dreamy mood of the picture. 'Florence Foster Jenkins' is, again, not an unforgettable movie, but surely a nice story acted and displayed brilliantly.