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Winkler’s depiction of the live of Cole
Porter is, understandably, grandiose and rather eye-catching. Winkler,
through a vast picturing of a beautiful but isolated life, explores the
life and work of Porter, while revealing his state of affairs which led
to a “business arrangement” with Linda Porter who was in love with him,
but couldn’t bear to share him with his male lovers. Beyond it is a
musical that’s not so much a musical, but more of Porter’s life played
to his own music (with fantastic covers from assorted modern music
artists), and wonderful music it all is.
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“De-Lovely” is a heartfelt piece
of musical drama that dares Porter himself to examine if the
life he led was worth re-living, and he does so as an old
man looking onto his young self. Thankfully, we don’t delve
into his childhood or teen years, and we instead focus on
Porter in the middle of his life, and on his meeting with
Linda. Ashley Judd’s performance is rather fascinating as
this woman who openly agrees to marry Cole based on the
assumption he’d share his love, but soon realizes he’s more
homosexual than anything. |
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Judd, as she always is, is a mixture of
beauty and elegance, and Winkler brings us into her predicament of
heart ache. She’s inclined to take up their agreement, but can’t
help feel disheartened when she knows the love songs he writes are
not about her, and we witness that in a wrenching scene. Meanwhile
Kevin Kline provides his usual powerful performance as Cole Porter
giving him a charm and charisma that keep us entertained as he lives
out his life confused and conflicted. Judd and Kline have warm
chemistry and they’re worth watching “De-Lovely.” That and the
fantastic music from Cole Porter.
But then Winkler’s film gets caught up in
the usual trappings of these bio-pics. It can never evenly explore the
life of the artist without ignoring the passion of the work, and when it
gets caught up in the passion of the music, there’s not enough of
Porter’s own personality and life in it beyond his love for Linda, and
affair with men. The writer lingers incessantly, ad nauseum, on their
romance, and her feelings about his love for other men throughout much
of the film, and never lets us into Porter’s own mind and his creation
of the music. Thus, “De-Lovely” is shallow, and fails to be intimate or
cozy because it’s so insistent on being grandiose and gaudy. From the
rather pretentious and self-important opening, to the unfulfilled
emotional conflicts, right down to the utterly long-winded story that
would have benefited from a ten minute slice, “De-Lovely” keeps us on
the outside looking in. Which is basically the curse of all the
biographical pictures, and Winkler’s film is no different. We never get
to know Porter too much and we’re left with more glossy, Hollywoodized
portraits of human artists.
It's sappy, and melodramatic, and boy does it meander, but "De-Lovely"
is also a sweet little tale about a great musician with great
performances, well done musical numbers, and a memorable turn from Diane
Lane.
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