“Meryl Streep has often been celebrated for her extraordinary vocal talents. But in director Stephen Frears’s new film, the three-time Oscar winner takes on the voice of Florence Foster Jenkins, a soprano who has been dubbed the worst vocalist of all time,” writes Tristram Fane Saunders in Wednesday’s (2/17) Telegraph (U.K.). The film is slated for release on May 6. “Born in 1868, Jenkins was a child prodigy as a pianist…. While living with her mother in New York, Jenkins began to dream of becoming an opera singer—despite her lack of natural talent. She fell in love with St Clair Bayfield, a British Shakespearean actor (Hugh Grant) who supported her ambition, and later became her agent and common-law husband. Jenkins enjoyed a brief notoriety for her woeful performances… Her recordings [have gathered] hundreds of thousands of hits on Youtube…. The film’s producers have a strong background in female-led historical drama: Tracey Seaward previously worked with Frears on The Queen, which landed Helen Mirren a Best Actress Oscar in 2006, while Michael Kuhn’s credits include the Bafta-winning Keira Knightley vehicle The Duchess (2008).” Simon Helberg (The Big Bang Theory) plays Jenkins’s longtime accompanist, Cosmé McMoon. The article includes a film trailer.
Posted February 18, 2016
