Florence foster jenkins movie12/30/2023 Marguerite is then used by an anarchic artist for his own games, using her poor singing ability to desecrate the French National Anthem, “La Marseillaise,” for his own exploits. People support Florence Foster Jenkins for her bravery, but everyone sees Marguerite as a joke from the start (the film makes a point that it is the silence and hypocrisy of these people toward Marguerite’s lack of talent that is at fault for her ultimate fate). Her mansion, where she is to give a private recital for the benefit of soldiers of war (“Florence Foster Jenkins” also opens with a benefit concert, though she doesn’t sing), is littered with hypocritical servants, an absent husband who can’t stand to hear her, cynical critics, and lecherous members of the club she is a part of. We don’t even meet Marguerite at the start of the film, Giannoli more interested in establishing the world around her. But the exploitation never dives as deeply as the French film does. “Florence Foster Jenkins” hints at others, such as famed conductor Arturo Toscanini, wanted to get her financial support. ![]() More interesting perhaps is how “Marguerite” and “Florence Foster Jenkins” approach the milieu of their title character rather differently. Florence gets to finish hers to thunderous applause. Her performance, while seemingly finding beauty is cut short by a vocal rupture and silence. “People may say I couldn’t sing, but no one can say I didn’t sing,” she utters in her final lines. Streep’s character also suffers an emotional shock after reading the reviews of her concert and ultimately dies, but the ending of the film, as presented is a victory for her character. When she is finally confronted with the truth of her artistic failure, it is so difficult to bear, that she ultimately dies. This ambivalent relationship bears fruit at the end of the film when Marguerite’s fraudulent nature comes to the forefront as she truly believes her own artistic greatness. ![]() “Florence Foster Jenkins” never makes us feel like Florence is a fraud in the least. And when she does, we can’t help but laugh at her. She is introduced as a big diva and the audience is left to anticipate her greatness when she strides before the orchestra to sing her first note. The film certainly wants us to connect and empathize with her, but there are suggestions of her own madness. “Marguerite’s” relationship to its protagonist is far more ambiguous. The film takes time to establish her benevolence before letting us hear her sing. The former adores its title character, casting her, in Streep’s interpretation, as an eccentric woman. “Florence Foster Jenkins” is a comedy with a tragic end while “Marguerite” is a tragedy with comedic elements. “Marguerite,” however, in avoiding the use of Foster Jenkins’ name and setting it in France, is able to do a lot more with the material.įor one, the tones are completely different. ![]() The Streep film, directed by Stephen Frears, leaves no doubt that it wants to be a straight-up biopic and as such, it hues closely to the major events of her later life, leading up to her death. It is truly interesting to see how the two approach the subject matter of this woman’s life. But fortune has a way of getting people through the door and Jenkins not only managed to buy her way into recording an album (that remains a source of controversy decades later) but also got to stage an infamous recital at Carnegie Hall.įor some perspective on Foster Jenkins’ singing, voila: It’s fascinating that the two productions came out so close to one another, especially considering that to that point, there had been no fiction film based on her story.įlorence Foster Jenkins was a wealthy music patron who was an amateur musician, who unwittingly had no idea that she was nowhere near a singer of great quality. A few months earlier, French director, Xavier Giannoli released “Marguerite,” a film based loosely on the life of Foster Jenkins that was a massive critical success with the 41 César Awards. Raking in over $56 million worldwide, it was considered a smash-hit.īut it wasn’t the first film to take a look at the unique figure in the world of opera. The film was a major hit, earning the legendary actress an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. ”īack in early 2016, the world clamored over Meryl Streep’s interpretation as the famed (or infamous) Florence Foster Jenkins. This week ’ s installment will look at two interpretations of the life of “ Florence Foster Jenkins. We will select a section or a film in its entirety, highlighting the impact that utilizing the operatic form or sections from an opera can alter our perception of a film that we are viewing. “ Opera Meets Film ” is a feature dedicated to exploring the way that opera has been employed in cinema.
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