Movie Review Florence Foster Jenkins

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2016 – Spoiler alerts. A true movie about the World’s worst opera singer could easily have been played for laughs throughout and though the film has a great deal of humour it is actually a very touching and even tragic tale. Meryl Streep is wonderful in the lead as Florence Foster Jenkins, a wealthy heiress and lifelong patron of the arts. Her dedication kept the Verdi Club going, in New York from the 1920's to the 1940's. It was where performers could entertain punters with highlights from the great operas and dramatic recitals. The only unfortunate part of all this was that Florence Foster Jenkins insisted on singing herself despite having possibly the worst singing voice ever heard, or recorded. Many of her rich society friends were too polite to tell her how awful she was, and often bribed music writers to give her rave review, but many also found her just laughable. Though she may have been aware of how dreadfully she really sang, the film works on the premise that she genuinely believed the flattery until the truth finally exploded on her in her final year alive. Florence Foster Jenkins had another tragic side which the film treats with extraordinary sensitivity. Her first husband left her with syphilis which had reached incurable status. Her second husband, and career manager, played by Hugh Grant, struggles to protect her from the harsh realities of life as the war comes to a close. (Much of the movie is set in 1944). Florence Foster Jenkins is not treated as a figure of fun, but as a brave woman living a dream despite its absurdity, surrounded by hypocrites and mockers, but also by people who genuinely loved and respected her. The film makes sure the viewer fall into the latter category. Youtube – rare recording of the real Florence Foster Jenkins Arthur Chappell