Based on The Inspiring True Story of Florence Foster Jenkins—Every Voice Needs to Be Heard
August 13, 2016 I went to see this film and thoroughly enjoyed it!
This is the official synopsis of the movie: “In the 1940s, New York socialite Florence Foster Jenkins dreams of becoming a great opera singer. Unfortunately, her ambition far exceeds her talent. The voice Florence hears in her head is beautiful, but to everyone else it is quite lousy. Her husband St. Clair goes to extreme lengths to make sure his wife never finds out how awful she truly is. When Florence announces her plans for a concert at Carnegie Hall, St. Clair soon realizes that he’s facing his greatest challenge yet.”
I thought Meryl Streep (Florence) was fabulous and appeared to have fun in this role. In addition Hugh Grant (who played her husband) and Simon Helberg (who played her pianist; best known for his role as Howard on The Big Bang Theory) were excellent in their portrayals.
What stood out the most for me was:
- the devoted and consistent love St. Clair had for Florence, and the lengths he would go to protect her
- the reciprocal fondness that slowly developed between Florence and Cosme (her pianist)
- the fact that during this time period syphilis was so devastating and incurable, and people had to take arsenic to control the disease. After the movie this brought about an entire discussion of the fact that it wasn’t until 1943 that Penicillin was introduced as a treatment for syphilis
- the turnaround in the attitude of Agnes (one of the women who was brought to Florence’s performances by her boyfriend/husband) as she finally understood the passion behind Florences singing
- Florence was an example of a woman with extreme courage. She had a passion for music her whole life and didn’t let her illness interfere with it. In fact, this passion for music probably helped her survive longer than she should have
In my opinion, the most important lesson of all from the film is that ~ You need to believe in you, and those that truly love you will accept and admire you for who you are. As St. Clair says in the film “without loyalty, there’s nothing.” Not everyone needs to love your passion or your “gift” but if it makes you happy and glow from within, keep pursuing it.
It’s Not How Good You Are — It’s How Big You Dream
If you haven’t seen the movie, you can still buy or rent it here.