Florence Foster Jenkins

You may remember the name of this film as the film that won Meryl Streep an award, causing her to and Donald Trump to have a bit of a verbal battle, which was won more elegantly by Streep.

Since making 'Mama Mia' years ago (almost ten years ago) Meryl Streep has done more with her voice, including have vocal lessons to strengthen and preserve the voice and take on more singing roles. Florence Foster Jenkins is another singing role. In real life Foster Jenkins was acclaimed to be the worst singer (amateur soprano) ever as she often would go flat without realising, completely miss the note she was aiming for and change key and was fairly extravagant in her performances. It is hard not to life when watching this film because the character is so egotistical and the character of St.Claire (Hugh Grant) refuses to let her know that she can't really sing and that people laugh at her. He pays off reporters so that they will write a good report for her to read in the papers.

The talent is not in Hugh Grant (we all knew that) but in Meryl Streeps ability to sound like she can't sing. Underneath we can hear her voice, we can hear that there is quality of a specific nature but she actually can miss the note so badly, can make herself sound so bad that if we didn't know better we would say that she didn't know how to sing. It's the look on her face and the belief that we see in the character that tells us that she isn't trying to be bad, the character genuinely believes that she can sing. As a singer, trying to sound bad is much harder than trying to get better. There is nothing more uncomfortable than trying to hit all the wrong notes and not instantly correct yourself. This character must have been one of the hardest that she has ever had to play.

With the costume and time period adding much to the film, giving it elegance and flair that gives a 'Miss Pettigrew Lives for a day' feel this film is very enjoyable. For fans of 'The Big Bang Theory' Howard is the pianist who has to regularly make adjustments to his playing to accommodate her change of key and other such things. Most of the applause is given for him rather than her singing but she continues to perform, to pay her pianist and keep her name going by having a lot of money and connections. Friends of hers actually liked to listen to her and supported her whilst others bought her record to laugh at it. Have a cocktail and enjoy this film one evening or on a sunny afternoon. With no specific audience in mind you can watch it with anyone.