"De-Lovely" is a musical biography of Cole Porter, a GREAT American composer.
The opening scene is one of those scenes that is so good that it, alone, is worth seeing the movie for.
A darkened, high-rise apartment. Suddenly, one can see a man at a piano, in silhouette. Then, the photograph of a woman. Then, a desk with papers on it. Then, the smoke from a cigarette.
The man at the piano is Kevin Kline as an aged, alone, Cole Porter. Jonathan Pryce, as the angel Gabriel in a business suit, walks in. They say that at the moment of death our life flashes in front of our eyes. This being Cole Porter, his life flashes before his eyes as a musical.
Some viewers become upset with these kinds of games with narrative. I liked it. For the most part, the movie proceeds in chronological order. Every now and then, though, Gabe / Pryce and Kline / Porter lean in and comment on the action.
I think even viewers who don't like experiments in narrative could just ignore those few moments where Gabe and Porter comment on what is happening.
"De-Lovely"'s production values are very high. Porter and his wife, Linda, were very rich and fortunate people who lived fabulous lives. That's all on screen. You see the rich apparel, the sumptuous estates, the wild parties, even a tastefully done whorehouse where Natalie Cole sings "Love for Sale." A couple of the musical numbers were misconceived. Sheryl Crow does a great job with "Are You Strong Enough to be My Man," but here she sings "Begin the Beguine," and she doesn't have what it takes to put it across.
Diana Krall can knock a Cole Porter song out of the park, and she appears here, but the camera cuts away from her performance, and then shows her nibbling on Louis B. Mayer's ear, a completely pointless and insulting scene.
What didn't work so well for this viewer was what the movie was trying to say -- what WAS the movie trying to say? -- about Cole Porter's marriage to Linda Lee.
Cole Porter was gay. Linda Lee is depicted as loving him, and tolerating his homosexual affairs as part of her love for him.
Porter, for his part, is shown as feeling the only real love he feels in the movie for Linda Lee, to whom he sings his most poignant songs. His sexual activity with men is shown as rather cheap. He makes false promises to a dancer he only has sex with, and does not spend any time in the daytime with; he pays for sex with prostitutes, and also pays to keep that activity hushed up.
This handling of Cole and Linda Porter's sexual and romantic lives never worked for me on a deep level. Gay men can and do fall in love with other gay men; homosexuality is not just about isolated sex acts.
Also, it was never clear to me why Linda wanted to stay married to a man who the film depicted as frustrating and even humiliating her.
Obviously, there was something there. By all accounts, Cole and Linda Porter enjoyed a strong and lasting bond.
This film, though, did not offer me moments of insight where I could really understand what that bond consisted of.
Cole and Linda Porter, one commentator wrote, were great friends. That could have been a believable narrative, but that's not what the movie depicts. The movie depicts deeper, frustrated passions, the kind of frustrated passions that can erode a friendship. How did Cole and Linda Porter stay together for so long, given what this movie says about their relationship? That disappointment did not ruin the movie for me. Kevin Kline is wonderful here, and Ashley Judd is charming, and the film's evocation of a creative genius who lived a jet set life during exciting times was fun.
The opening scene is one of those scenes that is so good that it, alone, is worth seeing the movie for.
A darkened, high-rise apartment. Suddenly, one can see a man at a piano, in silhouette. Then, the photograph of a woman. Then, a desk with papers on it. Then, the smoke from a cigarette.
The man at the piano is Kevin Kline as an aged, alone, Cole Porter. Jonathan Pryce, as the angel Gabriel in a business suit, walks in. They say that at the moment of death our life flashes in front of our eyes. This being Cole Porter, his life flashes before his eyes as a musical.
Some viewers become upset with these kinds of games with narrative. I liked it. For the most part, the movie proceeds in chronological order. Every now and then, though, Gabe / Pryce and Kline / Porter lean in and comment on the action.
I think even viewers who don't like experiments in narrative could just ignore those few moments where Gabe and Porter comment on what is happening.
"De-Lovely"'s production values are very high. Porter and his wife, Linda, were very rich and fortunate people who lived fabulous lives. That's all on screen. You see the rich apparel, the sumptuous estates, the wild parties, even a tastefully done whorehouse where Natalie Cole sings "Love for Sale." A couple of the musical numbers were misconceived. Sheryl Crow does a great job with "Are You Strong Enough to be My Man," but here she sings "Begin the Beguine," and she doesn't have what it takes to put it across.
Diana Krall can knock a Cole Porter song out of the park, and she appears here, but the camera cuts away from her performance, and then shows her nibbling on Louis B. Mayer's ear, a completely pointless and insulting scene.
What didn't work so well for this viewer was what the movie was trying to say -- what WAS the movie trying to say? -- about Cole Porter's marriage to Linda Lee.
Cole Porter was gay. Linda Lee is depicted as loving him, and tolerating his homosexual affairs as part of her love for him.
Porter, for his part, is shown as feeling the only real love he feels in the movie for Linda Lee, to whom he sings his most poignant songs. His sexual activity with men is shown as rather cheap. He makes false promises to a dancer he only has sex with, and does not spend any time in the daytime with; he pays for sex with prostitutes, and also pays to keep that activity hushed up.
This handling of Cole and Linda Porter's sexual and romantic lives never worked for me on a deep level. Gay men can and do fall in love with other gay men; homosexuality is not just about isolated sex acts.
Also, it was never clear to me why Linda wanted to stay married to a man who the film depicted as frustrating and even humiliating her.
Obviously, there was something there. By all accounts, Cole and Linda Porter enjoyed a strong and lasting bond.
This film, though, did not offer me moments of insight where I could really understand what that bond consisted of.
Cole and Linda Porter, one commentator wrote, were great friends. That could have been a believable narrative, but that's not what the movie depicts. The movie depicts deeper, frustrated passions, the kind of frustrated passions that can erode a friendship. How did Cole and Linda Porter stay together for so long, given what this movie says about their relationship? That disappointment did not ruin the movie for me. Kevin Kline is wonderful here, and Ashley Judd is charming, and the film's evocation of a creative genius who lived a jet set life during exciting times was fun.