Florence Foster Jenkins

Dir: Stephen Frears

2016

****

Stephen Frears' 2016 comedy focusing on the life of Florence Foster Jenkins, the worlds most loved but worst singer of all time, is a witty delight from start to finish. It has to be said that this is loosely based on Jenkins' later life but much of it - the important bits - are true. Florence Foster Jenkins inherited a small fortune from her father and syphilis from her first husband. She never once let her illness get the better of her and lived far longer than expected, claiming that music had kept her alive. Florence Foster Jenkins had a passion of music and spent her wealth on funding New York's musical scene. She opened her own club, the Verdi, and supported struggling composers and musicians. Unfortunately, Jenkins' talent never matched her passion and she became famous for her high-pitch and rather flat singing, it was said that after a taxicab crash in 1943 she found she could sing a higher F then ever before. Instead of a lawsuit against the taxicab company, she sent the driver a box of expensive cigars. She was aware that she may not have been the best singer in the world but her second husband, Shakespearean actor St. Clair Bayfield took control of her management and was selective of her audience. Her following soon consisted of elderly friends, composers in need of money, those whom were bribed to attend her shows and, most of all, those that saw her innocence but also a bold women who would be damned if anyone told her she couldn't sing. People are attracted to colourful eccentrics and soon enough, those that initially mocked her would go on to defend and support her. Her only recording, which she pressed herself, was a very limited pressing and sold for a considerable amount of money then and still does now, if you can find a copy. Meryl Streep plays Jenkins beautifully with respect and admiration and gets her unique style of singing down perfectly. Hugh Grant plays her second husband St. Clair Bayfield just as well, their relationship playing a huge part of the film's story. Their relationship was rather unorthodox, with Jenkins residing in her lavish apartment and St. Clair living in his own apartment with his 'girlfriend'. At first this seems like a real shame, like his and Jenkins life was all just an illusion but as the film progresses we see that their love for each other is actually quite lovely. As St. Clair says to Cosme McMoon (played by the brilliant Simon Helberg) "Our's is a happy world' and as the film transpires, it's hard to argue that it isn't. Simon Helberg's inclusion in the film is the cherry on the cake, the three actors are wonderful together and the highlight of the film and indeed, the highlight for all three characters in real life, was playing New York's famous Carnegie Hall. Jenkins' performance for the returning WW2 troops is now legendary and it is reconstructed beautifully by Frears. The conclusion to the film is tender, respectful and really quite wonderful with Jenkins' famous quote that "People may say I can't sing, but no one can ever say I didn't sing" resounding beautifully. A hilarious and touching celebration of eccentricity and overcoming adversity.