Florence Foster Jenkins opens with St Clair Bayfield (Hugh Grant) in front of a red curtain, reciting a little Shakespeare. We soon find out he’s just waiting to introduce Florence (Meryl Streep) his wife and client, who is starring in a cabaret of her own design for the patrons of her music club.
The truth is that Florence is the audience, and St Clair the star, shaping the world to her liking. In her world, he is her unconsummated husband of 20-odd years. The reality is, he has a (real) lover in another apartment. In her world, she wants to share her elegant soprano with the people. In reality, she sucks.
There’s always comedy in that gap between what one thinks of the world and what actually is. So her singing voice, which is kindly described as a little flat, is briefly funny. What is infinitely entertaining is how selflessly St Clair pretends otherwise, how much of a struggle it is for pianist Cosme McMoon (Simon Helberg), and how shameless it is from singing coach Carlo Edwards (David Haig).
Grant, in particular, is convincing as both the tireless husband of an heiress and the swinging man about 1940s New York. He really has an effortless charm, despite his apathy, or perhaps because of it. The cast in general have the comedic chops to pull off the whole caper, and director Stephen Frears directs them with a breezy touch and an elegant eye.
Am I forgetting something? Oh yeah, Meryl Streep. She sings bad, she walks bad, she talks bad – the triple threat. A lot of the humour rests or crumbles on her performance, and she’s as solid as porcelain.
If Streep has a flaw, it’s that she’s overachieving. Her performance is epic in its complexity, and this light affair never quite matches up. For me, the most moving thing was that Florence is not as clueless as she seems. She’s waiting for someone to be honest with her, even as she enjoys being the centre of attention. For such a big lie, the ending is oddly swift and economical. It should be a mess.
Review Score: THREE STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Florence Foster Jenkins releases in cinemas on the 5th of May.
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