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Florence Foster Jenkins
Meryl Streep plays the wealthy socialite determined to make it as an opera singer despite being tone deaf, in a delightful comedy from Stephen Frears.
Director: Stephen Frears
Overview
The true story of a tone-deaf wealthy heiress’ excruciating attempts to become an opera singer is given voice by acclaimed director Stephen Frears. Meryl Streep is wonderful as the deluded diva who blasts her way through 1930s New York high society, while Hugh Grant is perfectly cast as her unfortunate husband, tasked with charming his wife’s critics into submission.
After Mamma Mia! and The Iron Lady, Streep yet again proves that she’s content with larger-than life, exuberant roles at this stage of her career.. But unlike some acting greats whose late-career comedic shifts have been dubious, Streep’s sheer dynamism and enthusiasm propels her starring roles. Arriving almost simultaneously with Xavier Giannoli’s take on the same story, Marguerite, Frears’ film distinguishes itself by virtue of the director’s broader touch and more natural feel for comic momentum, and it results in one of the director’s most purely enjoyable works in years.
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