Florence Foster Jenkins reviewed by Mark Kermode
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
- Mark Kermode reviews Florence Foster Jenkins. A New York heiress who hopes to become an opera star works with her husband to make her dreams come true - despite the fact she has an awful singing voice.
Please tell us what you think of the film -- or Mark’s review of the film - below. We love to include your views on the show every Friday.
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This story is deeply moving and made me cry because Florence Foster Jenkins demonstrated a human condition that affects us all. She was laughed at and viewed as a novelty but her heart opened up to belief in all that's possible and just as in life, good intentions don't always materialise as we would like them to. When a little child draws a picture ,adults will clinically look at it and see it's a drawing by a child and decide either dismiss it as they see it as no value , or tell the child it's a masterpiece bcause they can acknowledge the love the child poured into it . Florence was a beautiful child that sang from her heart in the belief , just like a child , that she performed a masterpiece which impressed all those around her. To this day that belief must be cherished and loved if we are ever to understand life and it's delusions we all suffer . Thank you Madame Florence Foster Jenkins for your unique art that touched so many in ways that are not what we thought we knew them to mean.
I think everyone expects Meryl Streep to do a good job--and while she was fine in this movie, I think it really belonged to Hugh Grant. He was amazing in this role! I also question how brave Florence really was when she didn't realize she was a terrible singer. Everyone around her told her she was amazing. It doesn't seem difficult to do something when you think you're good at it.
I saw it today. I had the best time. Streep and Grant were superb. I laughed and cried, sometimes simultaneously.
I think Hugh Grant really made this movie. I think he's the one who gives the movie its weight and drama. I think that without him the movie would really lack the heart.
he is very good, gives it heart and humour
One of the best autobiographical films you have to see. Streep and grant have great performances as do all the cast. The world needs more jenkins's. It would be a happier fun filled place to be..
Watched it over the weekend Mark and just wow, I know now why I always think of MS as the best female actress to have ever graced our screens, HG was very good in fact the whole cast did a great job, highly recommended.
Saw this yesterday and thought it was great! Funny, perfect "bad voice," very expressive in this role-her best role in years and years. Hugh Grant and the actor who played her pianist were also wonderful in their roles. I think this is a much more Oscar worthy performance than some of the past roles recently. Oh, and I also agree that she is inspirational in pursuing her passion!
Finally got around to seeing this film yesterday, and found Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant both just plain wonderful. I only knew of FFJ by virtue of her surreal audio recordings, but fell in love with her and the story early on in the film. The singing is awful, but sincerely so, and that alone is worth something. Hats off to Frears and and the rest of the cast and crew: bravo!
Florence and tiny Tim are up in the clouds enjoying their music and one day I will be able to see them both and all the rest
Looking forward to watch it and enjoy another masterful performance by the one and only MS, excellent review Mark. Many thanks
According to a documentary on her life, she was common law because she never got a divorce from her first husband. The other man had an affair, but there was speculation she was having one too. She took care of her companion and he managed her affairs. So they became dependent on each other. It is sad no one told her she couldn't sing, but she was high society, and if anyone wronged her, they were out of her circle. She was in charge of a lot of Art societies. I am sure if she was to run into Simon, he would have been dreadfully honest with her. Meryl Streep is so talented. Good part for her.
Someday they'll make a film about an actress who always plays the same character, just with a different accent.
I did finally watch it. I had avoided it because I don't like watching kind people humiliate themselves so publically. It makes me very uncomfortable. But it was actually ok.
Hey this was 91% on rotten tomatoes! 7.1 on imdb!
Did Mark say "an heroic figure"? Is this a British thing? I know an hour is commonly used, but hero doesn't exactly have a vowel sound like hour. I'm such an hero.
+BillyMaysRIP It tends to be a bit of a class thing. There are certain "h" words that seem to get "an" before them; an historic victory; Spend a night in an hotel; An heroic figure - can't think of any more. It almost certainly has to do with French and the fact that back in history the ruling aristocracy were French and spoke French, while the general population spoke some form of English.
chrisofnottingham Generally speaking, the silent h is a thing for French loanwords - heir, honest, honour, hour, and hotel are all French loan words. I can at least rationally understand someone saying "an honour" or "an honest." But historic and heroic are derived from Greek, not French. I'm not some prescriptivist, but it's always surprising to hear someone say "an hero" etc. Is it a BBC english thing?
BillyMaysRIP Indeed. I can only assume that the aristos would say "An (h)otel" when speaking English, mixing the English rules for a/an with the French silent h pronunciation. It would then become correct in posh circles to say "an" even when using the English pronunciation. It is a bit BBC / middle / upper class. I like to have fun with it from time to time and use it for h words where it never normally gets used. "do you have an handkerchief?" :-)
Heh, I sometimes throw in a "I shall" just for the fun of it, but I have to be careful or else people think I'm being facetious... It's super weird to hear from these comments that this type of H-dropping is associated with the upper class/snobbery - I thought it was something that the working class did! Looking it up, I found this:
"Today, “h”-dropping is associated with the cockney speech of working-class Londoners, but this loss of the “h” sound in words like “hammer,” “hat,” “house,” and “behind” is common in most regions of England, according to linguists.
"In fact, “h” dropping is not unknown in Received Pronunciation, the standard British accent. In addition to dropping the “h” sound in the Gallic loanwords mentioned above, RP speakers used to drop it in “historic,” resulting in uses like “an ’istoric.”
"RP speakers now pronounce all the letters of “historic,” but they’ve kept the indefinite article “an,” even though the article “a” would be standard before a word beginning with a sounded “h,” the phonetician John C. Wells writes in Accents of English (1982)."
English English is weird... it's funny, cause here in the States, I could speak with a Geordie accent and people would think I was being "high class." I guess I technically speak Southeastern (SENE) New England English, which is only a few steps away from the stereotypical "Boston" accent, but it's close enough to the "General American English" that no one comments. So while I can be understood by nearly 100% of Americans, when I talk to my Commonwealth family, they apparently have major issues understanding me. But none of this relates to my initial comment on "an heroic" :P
BillyMaysRIP Yes, dropping H's from the front of words is definitely a regional / working class thing now and different to "an hotel". But interesting in that the rules of phonetic grammar still apply, so we get "an 'ammer". Which is why it is amusing to mix them up and say "an hammer" in a posh voice, because it pokes fun at both types of H dropping.
She had played many smaller venues before Carnegie Hall.
Les Dawson was a very good pianist.
Ricki and The Flash, Streep did not sound good! Into The Wood, was that Meryl singing? I'm confused!
Meryl Streep is acting, playing the role of Florence Foster Jenkins. The woman itself has an voice that was not the best what you can expect from a classical singer. What I don't understand is, do you really read the information on forehand, before you say something. Meryl Streep, i say it again, is acting. And when she signs like Florence Foster Jenkins, than she makes a great role and performance, without playbacking. She used her own voice and that makes her a great artist.
The movie does an admirable job of telling her story. They nipped and tucked a few things so it was a bit less "weird" and bit more heart warming.
I expected it to be more heartwarming, actually. Considering she never knew she was a terrible singer, I have to wonder how brave she really was to sing in public. It's not difficult to do something when you think you're fabulous. I didn't get the big feel good payoff at the end and it left me feeling a bit disappointed. Hugh Grant was fabulous, though.
We will never know what her level of self awareness was, or how much her illness contributed to her seemingly delusional behavior, or if she knew what she was doing and simply managed people to feel special. The movie implies she was just eccentric and daft, but the history implies she was very manipulative, so its hard to say.
Sarah Holloway You're right that we'll never know--though even with either of your explanations that she was just plain old manipulative or that she had a mental illness, I'm not sure that either makes her brave for performing. Having a delusion that you're great from a mental standpoint (vs how the movie shows that it stemmed from those around her) still doesn't make you brave for performing in front of 3,000 people. I think you can be brave for getting in front of 3,000 people, but not because your voice is bad, if that distinction makes sense.
This sounds exactly like the film Margurite
+Axel Djärv Both based on the sam story
+Axel Djärv Did you listen to the review?
Mark, this is so zzzzzzzzzz. It is clever in that the producers managed to wrangle Streep to 'star'. But it's been told many times before but how many more times shall we trudge this path. Here's another Oscar for Streep. "Then Mama Mia there is really nothing she cannot do." But do we have to listen to her sing off key and think, "I'm reminded of some old Three Stooges Comedies"?
I'd rather watch Mallick try and miss at something different.
Are you trying to compliment or insult her? And why put quotations around "star"? She is the star of the film as it is about her.
the susan boyle story next?
played by Les Dawson.
thank you miss meryl streep, thank you thank you thank you thank you and hugh grant thank you both so much, this is true I want too be in show biz, so much, my big dreams, I love you both, miss streeps is the best, amen amen.
A Great Film very Funny.
Oscar bait.
a Hugh grant film? yeah right
+Jack Webb LOL. You never know because if a film about a girl reinventing the mop can get nominated then I guess anything is fair game.
I've never even understood what that means. Do you mean it's well-made? Because I agree, but I don't see how that's an insult.
I liked the film overall but Simon Helberg put in one of the worst acting performances I've ever seen
Really disappointed with the tone of the film. Plus, Simon Helberg ruined almost every scene he was in, he deserves a razzie in my opinion. I think if Adam Driver played his part and Hugh Laurie played Hugh Grant's character, this would have been an incredible movie.