De-Lovely

I generally hate biographical films and musicals, but this biographical musical is one I really liked. From the beginning with Gabriel (I always love Johnathan Pryce - I never got over "Brazil") and the old Cole Porter together in the empty theatre, I was sold on the film. Sometimes flashbacks annoy me. In this case, the interaction (one-sided, but still there) between the old Cole Porter and his past made the transition to his life magical and fun. It didn't feel like a biographical view of his life.

From the opening scene in the theatre, it just got better as it went along. Kevin Kline's portrayal of Cole Porter was rich and nuanced. He seemed to be truly in love with Linda, yet he still had his other side. Ashley Judd as Linda seemed perfect. When the old Cole Porter sees her again, he says, "My god, she was lovely!" and she was. I identified enough with her and with Kevin Kline that I was saddened by her death in the movie. They sold me on their characters. I ended up feeling empathy for Linda; the lovely, lovable and steadfast; and respect and admiration for the Cole Porter figure.

But, what made the movie fly for me was the music (go figure!). It was Cole Porter, release 1.1. A bunch of his great songs were re-arranged and presented by modern singers - all the way from jazz (Diane Krall) to varieties of pop (Elvis Costello). Each of the singers brought a new feel to the Cole Porter songs and really made the movie a pleasure.

When my wife and I finished the movie on the DVD we spent another hour watching all the special features. We both hated to see the movie end. We just wanted it to go on and on. Like the beat, beat, beat of the tom-tom.........

As a biography, De-Lovely is not historically accurate, but as drama and a tribute to Cole Porter, a prodigious talent in musical theater, it is sublime. Kevin Kline is perfectly cast in spirit as the songwriter extraordinaire who stormed Broadway as Hollywood beckoned. His marriage to Linda Porter (a terrific Ashley Judd) is a relationship of lasting love fraught with infidelity and heartbreak in which Porter is portrayed as an insatiable artist whose homoerotic dalliances were legend. The timeline spans the 1920's through the 1950's. This is not so much a simple biopic but, rather, an interesting depiction of Porter's constant struggle to find happiness in love and life and it proves to be an addictive intoxication. As his accepting and understanding wife grows increasingly frustrated with his lies and deception amid his growing list of male suitors, Porter's life and health begin to unravel.

Serving as a framework for the life events is a curious narration of sorts by an aged Porter and a mysterious host/angel (a nice theatrical turn by Jonathan Pryce). This bracketing narration is reminiscent of A Christmas Carol, and there are striking similarities to the classic All That Jazz in narrative and tone. The main story is told in a series of mini-vignettes; some scenes are almost too brief. Then there are the songs. It is truly phenomenal just how many wonderful Porter songs became standards. The recreations of many of his top hits are interspersed throughout the film and are performed often by top vocalists including some amusing cameos by Elvis Costello, Diana Krall, Alanis Morissette, and Natalie Cole. The songs serve to parallel and punctuate the life events throughout the story in much the same way paintings served as a co-narrative in Frieda.

Although production values are good for a period and location piece, it feels a little less grand in scope than it ought to be. Perhaps that works in the films favor as a more intimate story. Standout credit goes to the makeup effects especially showing the aging of Kevin Kline's character. The camera work and editing are imaginative especially in a series of circular tracking shots which seamlessly meld one timeframe with another. The music is timeless and enjoyable even when sung in pedestrian fashion by Kline. And regarding Kline, he deserves an Oscar nomination for a richly etched portrait of a tortured soul whose search for true love spanned his entire life. Perhaps in the hands of Bob Fosse or Baz Luhrmann, this could have really launched into a wildly imaginative send-off of a musical genius, but director Irwin Winkler (a respected producer turned director like Alan Pakula) has done Cole Porter proud.

This film looks well and has several performances, both dramatic and musical, that are worthy of note. Of the latter in fact Elvis Costello and Natalie Cole in particular came off very well. My biggest beef, however, was with Sheryl Crow's performance of "Begin the Beguine." I haven't heard or read it commented upon so apparently it wasn't noticed that she didn't sing the melody nor did the arrangement follow the fairly complex chord structure that Cole Porter wrote. Taking liberties in jazz is one thing. It's common practice among jazz musicians to take interpretative flights far from the source material and yet still stay fairly close to the general structure and melodic line. In this travesty of a straight, non-jazz performance Ms. Crow quite simply didn't sing the tune as written and the arrangement fairly clobbered the carefully structured co-relation of major and minor chords, altered notes leading to secondary dominants and shifts of key and melody that lead to the tune's climax and denouement. I suppose it's some sort of comment on the general unfamiliarity with popular song of the golden age of Broadway in general and Cole Porter in particular that is to blame but it seems a pity that someone somewhere along the line didn't call her on this. It's plainly and flatly wrong and she should have been told.

This biography soars toward the Academy Awards on the backs of its producer, director and actors. Kevin Kline proves you don't have to look like the "Real Person" to bring his spirit to life and Ashley Judd (contrary to some unfair and plain wrong reviews) gives us a strong Linda Porter, a complex and vulnerable Linda Porter who, as is usually the case, finally succumbs to her life choices with an uncommon grace and courage.

Those people in the audience who had no idea about Mr. Porter's sexual preference, oh'd and ah'd in the beginning. Then they learned that all the talent in the world, all the money in the world, all the joyous hedonism of youth in the world - all of it falls in upon itself as age overcomes and destroys the arrogance of youth.

Irwin Winkler has given us an unflinching portrait of an unusually talented man, an unusual life, and a painful end to that life.

My palms were ice cold and I felt drained as this film concluded - not because it failed as a project, but because it succeeded so well.

DE-LOVELY is not an easy movie but it is a brilliant one.

Cole Porter wrote many of the wittiest and most beautiful songs ever, and had a very unconventional love life to back them up. Overall, this movie does a fair-to-excellent job of showing both the highs and lows of a complex relationship and of the man himself.

I was pleased to see that accomplished singer Kline was able to croak out the songs that his character wrote, because Porter was known to be a poor singer. It would have been a big mistake to have him sing like an angel.

That said, I can only presume that the studio's desire to pander to a young audience is the explanation for an absolutely horrible series of botched attempts by various pop artists to sing Porter's songs. Some, like Elvis Costello's effort, are just able to slide in under the radar, and Natalie Cole's is pretty reasonable. But somebody in charge should have stricken the songs sung by Alannis Morissete ("Let's Do It") and the even worse Sheryl Crowe ("Begin the Beguine"), or at least replaced them with other singers in body or at least in voice. I can see how Morissete's croaky, glitchy vocal stylings work for her in her own pop music, but they only annoy in this context; she also has no sense of the style required. Crowe's voice is actually less irritating in her number, but what were they thinking otherwise? Doesn't she know the melody? Does she only have a range of 5 notes? Instead of attracting younger people to Porter's songs, I expect that it will only make them ask 'why do people like this rubbish', not realizing who is really at fault.

This one would be a DVD keeper for me, if it were not for this glaring problem.