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December 27, 2004
"De-Lovely"
IMDB: De-Lovely (2004)
Netflix: De-Lovely (2004)
A fairly good biopic/musical about the life of Cole Porter, one of the great composers of musicals in the 20th century. I liked the film, although felt that the set-up was perhaps trying a bit to hard to be like Chicago (i.e. the reason for the musical numbers in Chicago is that we're in Roxie Hart's brain, while in this movie, Cole Porter and a companion are watching his life unfold on-stage). Perhaps a pretentious set-up, but strong performances from Kevin Cline as Porter and Ashley Judd as his wife make up for it. There are a lot of musical cameos throughout and I was surprised by how many of the tunes I recognized. The music is well integrated into the story, with most songs either sung by Porter in scenes where he's performing for guests, or musical numbers on-stage as Porter opens new shows on Broadway. The movie isn't asking you to believe that everyday people spontaneously burst into song, which perhaps makes it more palatable. But if musicals really aren't your thing, this is probably not the movie for you, however, because a lot of screentime is spent on Porter's music.
Both Klein and Judd give really nice performances. Porter and his wife had a very "complicated" relationship (and that's putting it delicately, since Porter engaged in multiple affairs with men throughout his marriage), but Klein and Judd made me feel a certain compassion for both of them. It's a portrayal of marriage that is certainly not conventional by Hollywood standards, and perhaps challenges some assumptions about what makes a "good marriage."
In addition to the music and the performances, it's simply a very pretty picture. Very nice cinematography, beautiful period costuming, and good pacing (it's always hard to compressed a long-lived life into a 100-minute film). If I were using some five-star rating system, I'd give it about 3.75 stars.
Posted by hannah at December 27, 2004 01:55 PM
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