A second Monday Movie Review.
De-Lovely (2004) 7/10
Cole Porter (Kevin Kline) looks back upon his life, his career, and his marriage to Linda Lee (Ashley Judd).
De-Lovely is an odd duck of a musical. It strives towards (and I think achieves) honesty about who Cole Porter might have been, and what his life might truly have been like. The interweaving of Porter songs, some in a traditional musical comedy style of ‘people just knowing the words,’ some as performance, and many as a blend of the two, usually works. Some of it seemed gratuitous and squeezed in—Be a Clown was particularly irritating, as it just played out the same fun-on-the-movie-set images that every version of Be a Clown (or its clone, Make ‘em Laugh) has ever offered, without telling us anything new about the characters or the song.
The performances of Porter songs by pop stars are rather self-conscious. Look! It’s someone you young people have heard of! Nonetheless, I enjoyed many of them.
The conceit of the film is that Porter has died and, accompanied by an angel (Jonathan Pryce), he is looking back upon his life as a staged musical that he has composed. This is the sort of device that can really turn you off at the outset, but I feel it worked. It was oddly touching and thoughtful. The old age makeup used on Kline is, thankfully, not the embarrassment that most such attempts turn out to be.
The relationship with Linda is the heart of the movie. The film speculates that Linda knew about Cole’s homo- or bisexuality from the beginning (which is likely) and was happy to enter into a sexless marriage. Although the film looks behind closed doors into hearts that were never opened to biographers, it is consistent with the known facts. I think there is a delicate truth here, in the portrayal of the complex interplay between love and sex, marriage and friendship and romance.
Although not entirely successful, I found De-Lovely moving and worthwhile.
Yeah okay.
I couldn’t get that delvey; I was too bored. I also fell asleep before it ended. (Was watching at a friend’s house.)
I thought it was pretty well-done, as these things go; I just found it really depressing. And not in a good way.
Well, the subject matter; they were probably both closeted, she had emphysema, he was crippled and depressed. So. But I thought Pryce singing at the end really worked in exactly the way he said it would.
Yeah I missed that part.
Falling asleep is bad.
But I realized when he sang the closing number what was bothering me about the movie, which was, why Jonathan Pryce for such a nothing role? Answer: Because they need someone who can jump out and sing at the last minute and really sell the pants off it.
Didn’t Kevin Spacey use the same device with Beyond the Sea?
Dead guy reflecting on his life.
I liked both movies but Beyond the Sea alot more.
By the way, I’ve been lurking for awhile and this is my first post but I enjoy your blog so much.
I’ve been having some health issues and sometimes the effort to think/type is just too much.
But damn! I feel GOOD today.
And not just cause of the elections…i am healthy i am healthy i am healthy….
Anyhow, nice to meet you dear.
Cyndy
(discovered your blog thru Shakes Sis)
Nice to meet you Cyndy! Congratulations on your good health.
I didn’t see Beyond the Sea. There are lots of movies where a dead person looks back on his life, but De-Lovely had an interesting conceit, which was that the Angel Gabriel was staging Porter’s life as a musical, since, after all, it’s Porter. As well, it’s Gabriel, a musician himself.