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MOVIE CRITIQUE:
My presumption has always been, "What can be so bad about an evening spent listening to music by Cole Porter?"
For the record, Cole Porter is my favorite modern composer and lyricist. I love him for the intelligence of his lyrics,
his use of sly and sophisticated double entendres, his often expressed satirical commentary on life, and his deeply felt emotions
of sadness, regret and ennui, all of which infuse his lyrics and music.
His lyrics and his music maintain a level of sophistication that has never been equaled and has only been approached by
some of the best works by Stephen Sondheim. Like only a few other masters, Cole Porter was both the musician and the lyricist
for his work. He did it all, and he did it with a style that might never be surpassed.
Porter's music is also memorable for its riffs in the lyrics that continue to run on in rhymes long after you might have
thought that he would have run out of words. His music is sheer magic and the tunes always get in your head and leave you
humming for days afterwards.
These points being made, on to "De-Lovely," which is a modern day "tell all" update on the earlier
1946 PG-rated version, "Night and Day," starring Cary Grant and Alexis Smith. That movie began when Porter enrolled
at Yale University, where he became famous for writing the school fight song that is still in use today.
Both movies refer to his home town in Peru, Indiana, as if that were off the end of earth and far away from any reasonable
semblance of civilization. The truth of the matter is that the Porter family was wealthy by any measure and Cole Porter ended
up inheriting $7 million dollars, a huge sum of money in those days. His inheritance allowed him to live the lifestyle of
the rich American expatriate and fashion dandy that we see in this movie when he first meets his future wife.
Much has been made of the fact that "Night and Day" was a highly fictionalized filmed biography that ignored
Porter's bisexuality. But it was also a charming movie and all the music was beautifully rendered and uniformly extravagant
in its presentation. Furthermore, Cary Grant and Alexis Smith had a chemistry that is somehow lacking in "De-Lovely."
Finally, the movie told their story in a more or less chronological order without the conceit of flashbacks allowed by an
accompanying angel of death.
"De-Lovely" has none of those pluses and many faults. This movie is like a jumble of pieces that are thrown
together but never quite fit together in a unified whole.
In addition, little things annoy me about this movie that cannot pass without mention.
First of all, wouldn't it have been nice to have seen Bobby Short, the world famous cabaret singer at the Carlisle Hotel
in New York and a life long proponent of Cole Porter, sing at least one of the songs in this movie? I mean, my gosh, this
courtly singer of great style actually knew Cole Porter. On the other hand, I feel that most of the singers selected for this
movie probably never even heard of Cole Porter until their agent called them about a role in this movie.
Another minor complaint I have is with Allan Corduner who plays Monty Woolley in this film. If the producers could go
to such great lengths to make Kevin Kline look like Cole Porter, why couldn't they have expended a little extra effort to
make Allan Corduner look more like Monty Woolley? The petite Corduner sports a scraggly black beard in this movie while the
real Monty Woolley was older, much taller, and he had a full beard that was gray and white in color.
While the acting by Ashley Judd and Kevin Kline is agreeably professional, little of their time together evidences much
in the way of chemistry. It's like they love each other from a distance, a greater distance than what we see in the film.
For that matter, all the personalities in this movie seem to exist on different planes from each other.
I was surprised to learn that Kevin Kline is a graduate of the music school at Indiana University at Bloomington, Indiana.
This is, I believe, the first movie where we get to see the display of his musical talent. While adequate, it is easy to see
why he moved on to the related field of acting. His considerable acting talent in his many movies far exceeds whatever musical
talent he displays in this film.
"De-Lovely" starts at a party in Paris where Cole Porter first meets the lovely Linda Porter. It is only in
these opening scenes where this movie is thoroughly entertaining depicting those moments when they first fall in love while
they are night clubbing and partying all over Paris and Venice. This is the only part of the film in which they exhibit chemistry
and love for each other and this is also the only part of this movie that is filled with any charm.
Actually, the movie really begins as a dying Cole Porter is summoned by an angel of death, "Gabe" (Jonathan
Pryce), to review his life much like a critic reviewing one of his many plays. In fact, most of the time that Gabe and Porter
spend together is spent sitting in the third row of an empty theater watching the actors, singers, and dancers go through
their tryouts for some new Cole Porter musical. This is a rather strange way to develop the story of his life. This is unfortunate
because the movie is constantly being interrupted by this dramatic conceit, the sad result being that there is no flow to
the story.
The question has to be, what is to be the focus of this movie, Cole Porter's music or his confused sexuality? When I think
of Cole Porter, I think of his music, which will last forever, not his bisexuality, which caused pain to his adoring wife
and made their life together more than difficult.
His sexual proclivities have little to do with why Cole Porter is famous, but "De-Lovely" dwells on this aspect
of Porter's life as if to proudly state, "Now you are getting the unvarnished truth about Cole Porter, the man."
I don't necessarily think that this is a good thing that I now know more about "Cole Porter, the man." I really
wish that I could have seen more about Cole Porter, the musical genius, along with better renditions of more of his wonderful
music.
I think that I will go out and rent that 1946 Cary Grant version...
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MOVIE SYNOPSIS:
The shadows from the approaching twilight begin to fill a room with darkness while an elderly man sits alone at his desk.
He is quiet and pensive, as if he is reminiscing over his long life. Another shadow in the form of a human approaches and
tells the man that it is time to go. "Gabe" (Jonathan Pryce), the Angel of Death, escorts his client, Cole Porter
(Kevin Kline), from his apartment to a nearby theater where another play by this musical genius is in rehearsal.
Porter looks at the actors and sees a lovely woman rehearsing with the troupe. It is his wife, Linda Porter (Ashley Judd),
who had died many years before. All he can think to say to Gabe is to repeat the words, "Look at her! Isn't she beautiful!"
She IS lovely and Cole goes back to the Paris of many decades before when he was a wealthy young man and the toast of
the Parisian café society. Linda happens to attend one of the many parties where Cole is holding court at the piano and she
soon wangles an introduction. It isn't long before these two glamorous people are "an item," as each is perfect
for the other.
Well, almost perfect. Cole Porter soon proposes to Linda, but he confesses to her that he is different, that his needs
are different. She is aware of his bisexuality and she replies, "Well, you just like men more than I do." That puts
the matter to rest for the moment and the two then marry and spend their honeymoon in Venice.
The posh parties continue in Venice and at one of the parties a couple, two friends of Cole's, approach. The husband is
another already famous composer, Irving Berlin (Keith Allen), who is then at the pinnacle of his career. He and his wife,
Ellin (Angie Hill), surprise Cole and Linda with the news that Irving believes in Cole so much that he has secured a commission
for him, on his word alone, for the production of a musical play at a theater back in New York City.
Linda is thrilled to hear this, as this means that they can return to the States. Cole is less certain because what this
offer really means is that his life of endless parties and gay frivolity must come to an end and he will have to settle down
to a career as a composer and playwright.
He needn't have worried. He soon has New York in the palm of his hand, so much so that even Hollywood hears about his
talent. The legendary Louis B. Mayer (Peter Polycarpou) of MGM Studios summons the Porters to Hollywood and offers Cole "a
100 times" what he would have been paid on Broadway to compose musicals for the silver screen.
Cole is reluctant to make this cross country, career changing jump, but he needn't have worried here either. The Porters
settle into a luxurious Hollywood lifestyle as he produces hit upon hit for the silver screen.
Unfortunately, his success in Hollywood is matched by Porter's increasingly risky sexual behavior. He begins to neglect
Linda in order to spend more time in the fast lane Hollywood dives catering to homosexual activity.
Missed appointments and missed post-theater opening celebrations because of this begin to tear at the fabric of their
marriage, and soon Linda returns alone to the East Coast. She hopes against hope that Cole will value their marriage enough
to follow her in short order.
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