In a recent interview Meryl Streep was reminded that Florence Foster Jenkins – a NY socialite totally delusional in thinking her awful singing was outstanding – is likely remembered today better than many truly talented operatic stars who performed at Carnegie Hall in the early years of the 20th Century.
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The movie, opening in U.S. movie theaters tomorrow, follows Jenkins around 1944 as, at age 76, she prepares for her first big public performance at a sold-out Carnegie Hall. Her performances were only for select groups of friends and fans, so it didn’t much matter how badly she sang. Frank Jenkins, who most likely gave her syphilis, a then-incurable disease.
Seldom has the gap between ambition and execution been wider than in the singing of heiress Florence Foster Jenkins (Meryl Streep). Jenkins and Bayfield maintain their chaste union in a stuffy, overly decorated home where even the chairs are meant to be looked at rather than used. But from the perspective of history, it’s clear that the aspiring singer’s performance gaffes have had a positive impact. But mention that to her, and she says the idea makes her feel “exhausted”.
Streep said her lip kept quivering when she spoke to him, which she cringes to think about now. And we meet her common-law husband, St. Clair Bayfield (Hugh Grant) whose protective role in Jenkins’ life is quickly established. I think I’m not a natural performer, I think I’m an actor. And her new role, as Florence Foster Jenkins in the film of the same name, should be particularly resonant.
Emmy-winner Simon Helberg plays Cosme McMoon. Regardless, if people always told her she was good, why wouldn’t she believe them? “Because it just, it changed each time”. And she screwed it up every time, but she knew them. “It was more terrifying…but it was way more fun”. There’s a nice little scene where Florence sits at the piano in Cosmé’s apartment, remembering her days as a pianist before the disease damaged her nerves, and the two wind up playing Chopin’s E minor Prelude together, with Cosmé playing the left-hand part that she can’t play anymore.
“We had 500 unsuspecting extras there, and I thought we should just go out and do a concert, because that reaction would never be the same”, she recalled to USA breakfast show Good Morning America.
It’s a pleasure to see Grant (“Notting Hill”) back to form as a dapper British handler whose fierce protection of Jenkins is unwavering.
We know Meryl Streep can sing. “I don’t want to know anything”, Arianda said of critics’ assessments.
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Streep says their love should not be dismissed in spite of the infidelities. I really don’t because I tend to like things that I can do right away. “But clearly they’re not really fine”, Grant noted.
