Diatribune

I watched THAT movie again last night. How revolting!

There are so many reasons for me not to like Delovely. For one thing, I'm not particularly a Cole Porter fan. For another, I think the basic metaphor of the film (life as theater) has been done to death, and was done as well as it is ever likely to be done in All That Jazz.

And then there is Kevin Kline.

I know he's a good actor, perhaps a great actor, but he's fingernails on a chalkboard to me. I always feel very aware of how hard he's trying. Ashley Judd? She's certainly lovely. She wears period costumery magnificently. She took her film wardrobe home with her, at the end of shooting, and no wonder. But her acting range is certainly limited. Oh, and then there's the lineup of big ego pop stars doing Porter's numbers for the film. Really, doesn't the whole thing sound like a train wreck? And please don't think it's saved by brilliant cinematography or direction! The cinematography looks like overcooked Masterpiece Theater fluff and the direction and editing are clunky.

Yet I LOVE the film and I love it more each time I see it!! I think it's touching, romantic, exquisite and beautiful. The total has absolutely blown away the sum of its parts!!

But, perversely, let me try to break down what's good about it. First and foremost, almost every performance of a Cole Porter song in the film is inspired. They are all so darned good that it should be hard to pick a standout -- but it isn't. Sheryl Crow's performance of Begin the Beguine is disgustingly vampy, set in oversaturated colors, and showing off her privates via a sheer, shimmery dress (itself exquisite) and backlighting: yet it is not only the most beautiful version of that song I have ever heard, but it is simply one of the most beautiful songs I have EVER heard, in her hands. One of the things that thrills me to the core, as a lover of art, is when a singer truly finds the soul of a song. Sheryl FOUND that song.

I never knew what the "the beguine" refers to. It sounds french and exotic and I've heard that it's the name of a dance, or something - but I've never wanted to know, particularly. Now I think that was the right instinct. It strikes me now that most people who have performed "Begin the Beguine" have gotten caught up in trying to bring out the supposed exoticism of the song. But what if it isn't exotic at all? That's what Sheryll Crow, despite her vampy performance in an outfit that Courtney Love would kill for, brings out in her singing, I think. Or maybe I should say that she used the vampy set up to ironic affect.

"Begin the Beguine" is about the simplest of things: the persistence of love. And whatever else the word "Beguine" is (I still refuse to look it up), it is a transformation of the word "beginning" into something that never ends. So "Begin the Beguine" means "Begin the Endless Beginning". Is that not the definition of passion?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN1yUOMAc5I

For comparison, here's a performance of Begin the Beguine by Johnny Mathis that (in my opinion) completely misses the simplicity of the song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X12Km1NAQik&mode=related&search=

Delovely also has wonderful performances by other singers, from Ben Harper to Elvis Costello to Alanis Morissette. Each performer clearly gave up his or her ego to his or her song, with magnificent results.

Cole Porter was quite a fine singer himself. He didn't have a great voice or range, but he had a feel for his songs rarely matched by others. While Kevin Kline is no great singer, he does a wonderful job of singing Porter's songs with something like the intimacy and warmth Porter would have brought to them. Also, like Kevin Spacey playing Bobby Darin, Kline seems to bring to his role as Porter a very personal commitment and dedication, even though Delovely was not the intensely personal project for him that Beyond the Sea was for Spacey.

http://movies.about.com/od/delovely/a/delovekk062904.htm

We don't get as rounded a picture of Porter's wife, Linda, in Delovely, but Ashley Judd plays the part just right, as a foil for Porter, but as more than JUST a foil. She creates, with Kline, the feel of a world shared by two people, a world so rich and strong, with such satisfying inner logic, that
great things can be rooted in it.

Evidently Cole Porter inspires people as much today as he did decades ago.
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