When do shenanigans cross the line into elder abuse? That’s the hotly debated issue at the heart of our vastly different experiences watching 2016’s Florence Foster Jenkins, directed by Stephen Frears and starring the legendary Meryl Streep as Florence Foster Jenkins, a syphilis-suffering patron of the arts and absolutely beyond-the-pale terrible singer.
Who is this movie for, exactly?
Come for the charming(?) Hugh Grant’s tireless work in creating a scaffolding of lies, delusion, and gaslighting to make Florence feel good about her talents as she spends the last year of her life preparing for a concert at Carnegie Hall. Stay for the nausea-inducing bathtub filled with mayonnaise-based potato salad, the invention of irony, tales of Rena’s high school trauma, more conversation about Sharknado than necessary, the suffering (both on and off-screen) of Rebecca Ferguson, and the lamentably brief appearance of the preternaturally gifted Nina Arianda.
Florence Foster Jenkins Is directed by Steven Frears from a script by Nicholas Martin and Julia Kogan and stars Meryl Streep as Florence Foster Jenkins, Hugh Grant as St. Clair Bayfield, Simon Helberg as Cosmé McMoon, Rebecca Ferguson as Kathleen, Nina Ariana as Agnes Stark, Stanley Townsend as Phineas Stark, Allan Corduner as John Totten, Christian McKay as Earl Wilson, Brid Brennan as Kitty, David Hague as Carlo Edwards, Mark Arnold as Cole Porter, and John Cavanaugh as Arturo Toscanini with a cameo appearance by Josh O'Connor as Donaghey.
Sources:
Florence Foster Jenkins: The Inspiring True Story of the World's Worst Singer by Nicholas Martin and Jasper Rees
Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it.
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