Meryl Streep received her twentieth Oscar nomination for her performance as Florence Foster Jenkins in Florence Foster Jenkins.
Florence Foster Jenkins is an entertaining movie about a ditzy socialite who decides to become a singer in spite of her terrible voice. It's a well-written comedy that I found very enjoyable from start to finish also thanks to the talent of the two leads (Hugh Grant probably should have received a nomination considering that he delivers the strongest performance in the movie) and I thought it recreated nicely the 1940s sorroundings (a Production Design nomination wouldn't have been undeserved). Also, Meryl Streep's costumes are really quite lovely and they occasionally enhance the hilarity of her performance. If there is one weak spot in the movie I would say it's Simon Helberg who, despite a few genuinely touching moments, delivers a performance that is a bit too mannered for its own sake.
Considering the huge critical acclaim she has received over the course of her whole career, I guess it's easy to deem Meryl Streep as an overrated actress but I personally feel her reputation is entirely earned. She is a true chameleon and I don't mean this regarding the purely technical aspect of her performances (even if it's certainly easy to admire her for her amazing ability to basically adopt any accent): she understands her characters and disappears into them. What I find particularly fascinating about her as an actress is the fact that she is clearly a very technical and calculated actress yet at the same time her performances come off as effortless and natural. This goes for her performance in Florence Foster Jenkins too: her performance in this movie can certainly be described as quite theatrical but this is extremely fitting to the larger-than-life central character. Streep is quite wonderful in the role as she makes Florence a very endearing character right from the beginning: she is very funny in her portrayal of her character's ditziness, even naivety, without ever turning her into broad caricature - in spite of her very eccentric behavior, Streep always makes Florence a believable, at times even relatable human being and right from the beginning conveys the character's big-hearted nature that lies beneath her over-the-top personality. Her singing scenes are extremely tricky as it's not at all easy to play a genuinely bad singer without coming off as hammy or grating: Streep handles these scenes with impressive skill as she recreates convincingly Jenkins' terrible singing voice without ever becoming annoying. Those scenes (and over the course of the movie there are quite a lot) could have ruined the whole movie if a lesser actress had played Florence, as they could have turned the character into a joke: Streep though never allows Florence to feel as such - we laugh due to Streep's hilarious singing but we never laugh with mockery but we laugh with affection, even tenderness. This is also because Streep manages to convey a lot of passion behind Florence's bad singing - she is so convincing at portraying her character's determination to sing that she turns her into a surprisingly poignant, even inspiring creation and one to root for.
As the movie goes on, more things about Florence are revealed and Streep is terrific in the few moments in which Florence's sunny personality cracks: we find out that she got syphilis from her first husband and that her illness crushed her hopes of becoming a pianist. She reveals this in a heartbreaking scene with Simon Helberg (who plays her pianist Cosmè McMoon is at his best in his few subtle moments with her): Streep is great at portraying Florence's inner sadness and regret for this situation but also properly shows her personal tragedy never affects her natural optimism and good nature. She and Helberg also share a pretty good chemistry as the two portray quite well the growing friendship and affection between the two. But of course her most emotionally resonant moments are the ones she shares with Hugh Grant as Florence's husband St. Claire, who is endlessly supportive towards her but also cheats on her with younger woman. Streep is very moving in her scenes with him as she portrays so well Florence's love for her husband and also her plight as she is fully aware of him having an affair - the scene in which she tearfully expresses her sorrow for her inability to have children due to her illness is particularly devastating.
In a way I would say that Streep's performance is kind of limited by the screenplay itself: on paper is written as rather two-dimensional and as good as she is in the role Streep can't help her performance become a little bit repetitive after a while. Also she is occasionally overshadowed by Hugh Grant who delivers a subtler performance but who is actually the one to do the real heavy-lifting in the movie. Still, Streep has some very impressive moments in the last act of the movie, such as her truly touching speech about how much singing at Carnegie Hall would mean to her. And she is certainly fantastic in the scene depicting her performance in the renowned theatre - she is great at portraying her initial stage fright, her confusion and heartbreak as she sees people making fun of her and then her renewed confidence and joy as her share of supporters silence her mockers. As odd as this may sound, her bad singing couldn't be better there and also isn't her little dance absolutely adorable? Her last scene is also very moving as Streep portrays very well both Florence's final awareness regarding her singing ability but also her pride and fulfillment as she has finally achieved her goals.
In the end, this is a wonderful performance by Meryl Streep who makes Florence a truly endearing character you can't help but care for. Despite being occasionally upstaged by Hugh Grant's more layered performance, Streep still handles this difficult role with impressive skill and her turn is at times hilarious and heartbreaking. A very nice, likeable performance from a fantastic actress.
4/5
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