De-Lovely, a biography of Cole Porter (1891-1964), has a relatively accessible "avant-garde" framing device, in which the elderly songwriter is taken to a theater by the archangel Gabriel for a revue in which his actual family, friends, and associates, revived in their youth, put on a show about his adult life. Though the life unfolds chronologically, for some reason the passage of time isn't marked (other than by a succession of obvious hairpieces), and there's no world beyond the theater, of course. And yet the movie offers nothing like an interpretation of Porter's life, certainly not one that necessitates the framing device. (I wish they'd given the playwright John Guare, a lover of old show tunes, a crack at reshuffling Porter's deck.)
By raising our expectations the distracting frame merely emphasizes a common paradox in artist biographies: the subject's accomplishments are the reason for the movie but it wouldn't have been made if his life hadn't been full of confusion and torment. (This was true of Frida (2002) and also of What's Love Got to Do With It? (1993) even though Tina Turner pulled herself together before the end. In the future, look for a biopic about Courtney Love but not Madonna.) You end up feeling the opposite of envy for the subject. All that talent and all the triumphs and adulation couldn't begin to make up for the anguish.
This is odd in the case of Cole Porter because the movie itself shows that he takes everything too lightly. An independently wealthy homosexual, he marries a highly companionable and beautiful socialite who accommodates herself readily to his nocturnal prowling and gives him the professional drive he lacks. All he has to do is produce the songs, which he's been writing for amusement and playing at private parties while lounging away the late '10s in Paris anyway. At first Cole and Linda Porter seem like Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald with the money they wanted and without the personal disturbances. The French reportedly referred to them as "les Colporteurs," i.e., "the peddlers," which, given their combined unearned wealth, seems like a pointedly ironic pun, until Linda begins superintending her husband's career. He becomes a spectacular success but that can't keep trouble from their door.
The movie could have worked despite its squareness and downtrending arc (miscarriage, blackmail, the famous horseriding accident, tuberculosis, amputation), but for a few central blunders, foremost among them the miscasting of Kevin Kline as Porter. Kline gets good reviews without fail, maybe because he always seems to take himself more seriously than the occasion warrants, which is the opposite of what we're told is Porter's nature. Even in comedy Kline is showing us how it oughta be done, though he makes me laugh much less than almost any comedy star. (If only they'd cast Robert Downey, Jr. instead. Why not Jim Carrey, for that matter? At least he might have had fun with it.) Kline has the vanity of a theatrical star without the commanding style, high or low: all ham, no glaze. (Think of Kevin Spacey for telling contrast.) He does know a few stage tricks, though: the way he speaks to Porter's famous friends, particularly the way he hails Monty Woolley, somehow relegates them irretrievably to supporting status (as if all beings acknowledged him as the sole source of radiance).
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Article comments
1 - Shark
Nice review, Alan. The film sounds horrible. I had high hopes for a better bio than that Cary Grant makeover-hetero-romance. Too bad they blew it AGAIN.
As a public service, I thought I'd mention:
Cole Porter, imo, was a songwriting god, and his output is unmatched in contemporary music. Because of my love, respect, and pure joy at the sound of a Porter song, I own just about every CD compilation and/or collection of Cole Porter works available.
Here are a few important recommendations left off the above list:
* Frank Sinatra "Sings the Select Cole Porter" on Capitol
* "From This Moment On - The Songs of Cole Porter" -- a great 4 volume box set from the Smithsonian.
* "Anything Goes: The Cole Porter Songbook - Instrumentals" on Verve
* "I Get a Kick Out of You - The Cole Porter Songbook vol ii" - on Verve
* "NIght & Day: The Cole Porter Songbook" - on Verve
========
Additional Bonus:
Shark's Nomination for GREATEST LYRICS in history:
When they begin the Beguine
It brings back the sound of music so tender
It brings back a night of tropical splendor
It brings back a memory evergreen
I'm with you once more under the stars
And down by the shore an orchestra's playing
And even the palms seem to be swaying
When they begin the Beguine
To live it again is past all endeavour
Except when that tune clutches my heart
And there we are, swearing to love forever
And promising never, never to part
What moments divine, what rapture serene
Till clouds came along to disperse the joys we had tasted
And now when I hear people curse the chance that was wasted
I know but too well what they mean
So don't let them begin the Beguine
Let the love that was once afire remain an ember
Let it sleep like the dead desire I only remember
When they begin The Beguine
Oh yes, let them begin The Beguine, make them play
Till the stars that were there before return above you
Till you whisper to me once more, "Darling, I love you!"
And we suddenly know what heaven we're in
When they begin the Beguine
2 - Alan Dale
Thanks for the praise, and esp. for the public service announcement. I hope people will listen to those classic recordings. I grew up on American show tunes and can appreciate your ardor.
I do think it's important at the same time to remember that there are other gods in CP's subdivision on Mt. Olympus (personally I prefer Rodgers & Hart) and that there are other subdivisions, too (I think that the singer-songwriters of the '60s and '70s (e.g., Bob Dylan: "Positively 4th Street" or Joni Mitchell: "Edith and the Kingpin") brought a new maturity to American songs). Finally, though saying this often gets me into arguments, there are other heavens that offer more complex rewards, which is why I mentioned Richard Strauss in my review.
3 - Shark
Alan, I agree that the musical Olympus is a crowded, multi-roomed place -- and I would never rule out a potential saint because of style, era, or genre.
As Duke Ellington (?) said, "There are only two kinds of music: good and bad."
4 - Alan Dale
Thanks for the comment. Love the quote, whoever said it. If only criticism were always that simple. I re-listened to Jackson Browne a couple years ago and thought sometimes the lyrics were simultaneously bad and good. Not bad and good by turns, but a single phrase or word would be both bad and good.
5 - Lee Glaze
to me COLE PORTER has alway the top .would loved to have met him . as for the unfavourable notices ofDLOVLY /critics are made up of those who cannot ACT
6 - Alan Dale
You seem to equate liking Cole Porter and liking De-Lovely. It's BECAUSE I like Cole Porter that I didn't enjoy the movie--it doesn't serve him very well as a man or as a songwriter.
Never heard "Critics are made up of those who cannot ACT" before. Perhaps you were thinking of the saying, "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." Not all critics are GOOD teachers, certainly; but then not all readers are talented students, either.
7 - ND
I just saw the movie. The flasbacks were distracting. I liked the music and didn't realize he had so many songs.
I am interested in some background about Linda Lee Porter. Does anyone know more about her?
8 - Alan Dale
John Lahr's article "King Cole," from the July 12 & 19, 2004 issue of the New Yorker, is a good place to start. It mentions some book-length biographies that would go into greater depth.
9 - Heather
No real comment...just a queston...Was that Kevin Kline playing the "old" Cole Porter??? Or was that someone else??
10 - Alan Dale
That was Kevin Kline, transformed my make-up designer Sarah Monzani. It was quite a makeover--he looked like Ray Milland circa Frogs.
11 - Eric Olsen
as a student of popular music, I appreciate and respect the masters of the Great American Songbook probably more than I love them. There are many songs I love, and the elegance and sophistication has been put to great use by many whom we now broadly call jazz singers, but in the broadest sense the Broadway-oriented theatricality and artificiality of this approach can feel arch and, again in general, doesn't hit me with the same emotional immediacy as the best of instrumental jazz and popular song in the wake of the freeing rock 'n' roll revolution.
12 - Jeremy V
This is very late in the game, but I've just come to this site. I believe the quote Lee Glaze (Aug 2004) was thinking of was Brendan Behan's "Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how it's done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it."
However, critics are not supposed to be actors. Actors act, critics critique. I agree with your review 100%. You verbalized exactly how I felt about the disappointing film. The film "Night and Day" omitted the homosexuality, and DeLovely made it the major theme so it became more important than the writing of the songs. If three is the charm, maybe the next time someone will get
the right balance and cast.