De-Lovely Review
by Harvey S. Karten (harveycritic AT cs DOT com)July 2nd, 2004
DE-LOVELY
Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
MGM
Grade: B+
Directed by: Irwin Winkler
Written by: Jay Cocks
Cast: Kevin Kline, Ashley Judd, Jonathan Pryce, Kevin McNally, Sandra Nelson, Allan Corduner, Peter Polycarpou, Keith Allen Screened at: MGM, NYC, 6/28/04
With cynicism replacing romance and innocence debased by contempt, it was inevitable that in the real world hip-hop would take the place of ballads and Stephen Sondheim would substitute for Oscar Hammerstein. Cole Porter came from an era in which ballads defined the music scene, a place not just technologically different from our own but one in which lofty ideals were prevalent over misanthropic undertones. Changes in musical styles mean you'll not likely hear Porter's songs on the radio these days but in big cities like New York, you can pick up his catchy tunes in cabarets and even a concert stage like New York's City Center theater.
While Irwin Winkler's portrait of the great American composer uses quite a few songs, at least one sung in its entirety and by performers who are belting out the numbers without lip- synching, "De-Lovely" is not strictly speaking a bio-pic. Rather, this version written by Jay Cocks is an impressionistic portrait of the man, his complex love life, and the tribulations he suffered from a disastrous fall from a horse along with his successes in the theater and at private parties. What's more Kevin Kline in the Porter role not only exudes the charms of a more innocent period in American life but as one who rose to prominence as a singer even before he became a major actor, he is the ideal choice to play the role.
Winkler and Cocks wisely utilize a framing device, positioning an aging and dying Porter alone in a dark Manhattan room fiddling with the keys when he is visited by a mysterious, Gabe (the angel Gabriel?) played by Jonathan Pryce. Gabe does a rendition of "This is Your Life," presenting Porter with scenes from his era, keeping him focused when he'd prefer not to deal with some aspects. Theatrical to a fault, "De-Lovely" portrays Cole ( in the form of Kevin Kline with first-class make-up to depict his now-fragile condition) back to the people in Cole's life, most prominently the beautiful divorcee who would become his wife, Linda (Ashley Judd). Cole and Linda meet in a Paris salon barely able to see each other through the clouds of smoke generated by their mutual tobacco addiction. Their walk about a gorgeous park in Paris switches impressionistically to their wedding, then on to a masquerade ball in Venice, climaxing in the first of many opening nights.
At a time that homosexuality was tolerated provided that the lovers remain discreet, we see Cole taking leave of a male blonde lover, though for the sake of maintaining a PG-13 rating the studio is equally discreet in giving us a view of Porter's friend in a rumpled bed covered to his waist in a blanket. Linda apparently accepts the competition, stating that she knows her husband likes men between than does she, but little is done to show whether she was aware of his bisexuality before their marriage.
Like Oscar Wilde, Cole Porter believed in living the high life, always dressed to the nines (in this film he is outfitted with Giorgio Armani suits). As he and Linda make the social scene, going from Paris to Venice to New York and from party to opening nights at the theater, we get a view of Linda is the woman who prods and pushes Porter when necessary, promoting his talent and urging him to compose one exquisite number after another to become, along with Irving Berlin, perhaps the foremost balladeer of America's 20th century. Among the songs rendered mostly in part as we go down memory lane are "In the Still of the Night," "Anything Goes," "It's De-lovely," and twenty-seven other gems, almost all well-known (at least to those in the U.S. over the age of fifty). But Porter's life was not all song-and-dance. Ironically, this song-and-dance man suffers the amputation of a leg following twenty-six surgeries resulting from his fall from a horse, and his wife–whom he loves but not with the kind of passion beloved of Hollywood movies–dies of emphysema in 1954 while Cole continues to life for ten additional years.
A youthful audience that might be turned on by more contemporary concert movies like "Festival Express" and "Metallica" would be hard put to dig the restrained style of "De- Lovely," but for those young people who go to movies to enter a different world, this, musically, is the Tower of Pisa, the smile on the Mona Lisa, while for the older generation, this is the top.
Rated PG-13. 125 minutes. © 2004 by Harvey Karten
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