De-Lovely
The main thing the film "De-Lovely," starring
Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd, has going for it is the music of Cole Porter and
there is lots of it in the film. The film is the story of the man as a writer
of music and as a lover of men.
The main problem with the film is that it leaves
Porter's relationship with his wife largely unexplained. It spends a large
amount of time on their relationship, but it's mostly wasted time. Why did she
marry a man she
knew
to be primarily interested in men? The film suggests that she was interested in
helping him further his talent for creating music, but then why was she unhappy
when he went out looking for sex with men? The film also suggests that she may
have thought that she could convert him to being predominately heterosexual, but
when she failed time and again, why didn't she just leave him? She had already
divorced one man.
One thing this film
largely lacks is sex and skin. There are two bedroom scenes that I can recall.
One with Cole and Linda when he decides to get her pregnant. There is no nudity
in that scene at all. The other is a scene with Cole and Boris after they have
spent the night together. Boris is still undressed in bed, but Cole is fully
dressed and ready to leave; he kisses Boris goodbye. So while the film makes
Porter's homosexuality very clear—it's a motivating theme in the film,
there is little on-screen action. There are plenty of good looking
men.
The device the film uses to tell
the story in a surreal staged flashback in Porter's old age is pretty weird. I
didn't think it had any value and it's somewhat difficult to understand at the
beginning.
"De-Lovely" is an
entertaining film that could have been a lot better.
Posted: Sunday - July 18, 2004 at 09:06 AM