De-Lovely (2004)

Regisseur:

Irwin Winkler

Drehbuchautor (WGA):

Jay Cocks (written by)

Premierendatum:

1. Oktober 2004 (UK)

Genre:

Biographie | Drama | Musik | Musical | Romanze

Werbezeile:

A love that would never die and music that would live forever.

Plot:

Inspecting a magical biographical stage musical, composer Cole Porter reviews his life and career with his wife, Linda.

Plot Keywords:

Cigarette Smoking | Stylized | Lung Cancer | Marriage | Cigarette Case

Filmpreise:

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 1 win & 8 nominations

Nutzerkommentare:

De-Lovely: De-Railed!

Besetzung

Kevin Kline	...	Cole Porter
Ashley Judd	...	Linda Porter
Jonathan Pryce	...	Gabe
Kevin McNally	...	Gerald Murphy
Sandra Nelson	...	Sara Murphy
Allan Corduner	...	Monty Woolley
Peter Polycarpou	...	Louis B. Mayer
Keith Allen	...	Irving Berlin
James Wilby	...	Edward Thomas
Kevin McKidd	...	Bobby Reed
Richard Dillane	...	Bill Wrather
Edward Baker-Duly	...	Boris Kochno
Angie Hill	...	Ellin Berlin
Harry Ditson	...	Dr. Moorhead
Tayler Hamilton	...	Honoria Murphy

Alternativ:

Just One of Those Things (USA) (working title)
She's De Lovely (USA) (working title)
De-Lovely - Die Cole Porter Story (Deutschland) [de]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sexual content.

Länge:

125 Min

Produktionsland:

USA | UK

Sprache:

Englisch

Farbe:

Schwarzweiss | Farbe

Seitenverhältnis:

2.35 : 1

Tonverfahren:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Altersfreigabe:

Iceland:L | Ireland:12A | Spain:13 | South Korea:15 | Malaysia:U (cut version) | Malaysia:18SX (uncut version) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-7 | Germany:o.Al. | Netherlands:MG6 | Singapore:M18 (re-rating) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | UK:PG | USA:PG-13 (certificate #40304) | Canada:PG (Ontario)

Drehorte:

Chiswick House, Burlington Lane, Chiswick, London, England, UK

Firma:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Dies und das:

'Kevin Kline (I)' played the piano himself in the scenes where his character plays.

Pannen:

Abfolgefehler: When Cole Porter is in the garden playing his piano and Linda comes back from being away, Cole stands and talks to her, and the cushion on the back of the chair falls down. As he sits down, the cushion is back in place.

Dialogzitate:

Linda Porter: Where is he?
Cody: You may prefer privacy.
Linda Porter: I would not.

Bezüge zu anderen Titeln:

Verweist auf/spielt an auf/erwähnt Casablanca (1942)

Soundtrack:

What is This Thing Called Love

De-Lovely: De-Railed!

As a child of the '30s, I was immersed in Hollywood musicals I bit more than I appreciated. I loved [still do] good music, a clever lyric, a moving melody, with a good degree of tolerance for experimentation with the off-beat and planned discord of a Stan Kenton. Cole Porter always symbolized meticulous word-play wed to impeccable melodic phrasing.

From the opening scenes, the vehicle of "De-Lovely"'s presentation was both an annoyance and a distraction. Was this a bio trying to become a musical; or was it a musical trying to be a bio? While this last observation may be my own singular and subjective problem, I squirmed mentally as I tried to figure out whether the makeup artists wanted to make Kevin Kline look like an aging Jeff Daniels, or a real-time Carl Reiner?

It would be nearly impossible to destroy Porter's music; the quality is there regardless of the interpretation. However, the matching of score selection to fragments of Porter's life, professional development and composing venues is a tawdry hodge-podge, put together like a 1940s 7th grader who scores 37% on an American History matching-columns exam. Some of the costumes, stagings and vocals are ludicrous: the costuming and set design for the Venetian duet, two people who appear not to like each other or the fit of their costumes; and the feeble-voiced crooning of a "Mountie" [Nelson Eddy - sound alike]: NOT!

Then there is the presentation of Porter, the man [Kline] and his long-suffering wife [Ashley Judd, excellent with the role she's given]. We can accept the idiosyncratic behavior of genius; we can appreciate a reasonable degree of self-absorption; we can empathize with a free spirit, suddenly crippled and dependent on others. Mrs. Porter knew exactly what she was getting when she entered the marriage; and while we can empathize with her fraying patience, we might expect a bit more fire from a woman whose husband is presented as sexual and social gadabout concerned only with his own gratification, except when the deeper muse is upon him. Finally, there is the staged number with Louis B. Mayer, which itself, would make the MGM lion dyspeptic. Porter may have been an intellectual snob; and Mayer may have been a boorish bully, but Mayer wasn't stupid.

Even in its presentation of Cole's homosexuality, we are introduced to a trite parade of pretty boys; and, within this shallow presentation, we are expected to see deep, caring relationships. It's been years since I've read a Porter biography, but the viewer might better have been served by suggestion: a lone Porter, for example, headed for the city tenderloin, or a seedy bar down by the waterfront, with the camera fading without further graphic explanation. Porter's encounters weren't all that "pretty."

Ahhh, the music. For me there were three show-stoppers, among them Elvis Costello's "Let's Misbehave." My wife and I, both 21+ X 3 + a bunch. thoroughly enjoyed Sheryl Crowe's minor key and roving "Begin the Beguine." It was a refreshing treatment of a Porter standard, which, although cleverly composed and worded, had become cliché in its title and too rigidly fixed in its arrangements. Crowe tosses out her usually fragile vocalizing; shows her musicianship in her rendering, and best of all, sings and phrases as a mature woman, not a whining little girl. Whether the precise Porter would have approved, I can't say; but Crowe gives the song a well-deserved rebirth.

Best of all is the top-notch performance of "Let's Do It," by Alanis Morissette: her vibratto; her full-of-fun, carefree delivery; her meticulously clear enunciation of the fast-flowing words are superb. The lady nails it!

The movie is a terrible disappointment; but it's not the music that brings it down. It is the trivializing of a privileged, yet tragic life. Its sole salvation is the wedding of gifted contemporary vocalists, with priceless old standards; and it may bring about performance revitalization and longevity enhancement for both.