Fun Friday–De-Lovely: Not a Musical for the Whole Family

“Have you ever seen a musical without a happy ending?” ~De-Lovely

Last Friday, Erica posted her top five musicals. My comment there was a bit convoluted, so I’ll try to clear that up today. So far, I’ve posted about my top three favorite musicals—just not necessarily in order. So here they are in order:

1. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
2. State Fair
3. The Music Man

Today, I’m adding #4 to that list. But be warned: this is not a musical that will suit everyone’s tastes, and is definitely a film for adults.

De-Lovely is the (slightly fictionalized) account of the unconventional but beautiful love story of Cole and Linda Porter, starring Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd. You might not recognize Cole Porter’s name, but you might recognize some of the songs that he wrote over his career, some of the most famous of which are featured in this film. He was a highly successful Broadway musical writer, and he had some success with his musicals being adapted for film, including Panama Hattie, Kiss Me Kate, and High Society.

In 1946, a very highly fictionalized (and sanitized) version of the Cole-and-Linda story was released, starring Cary Grant as Cole Porter (Night and Day). I finally got around to seeing this older version after having fallen in love with De-Lovely and reading a brief biography . . . and the Cary Grant version bears little resemblance to the real Cole Porter’s life.

What I adore about De-Lovely is that though Cole and Linda’s marriage is shown as “unconventional” (at best), they make it work; and toward the end of the film, after an estrangement, it’s apparent how deeply these two characters love each other. (Yes, even though they’re based on real people, let’s be honest—these are characters.) This is my go-to film when I need a good cry, because there’s just something about the love story told in this film that touches me in a very deep place—influenced by the fabulous music.

The story is told using the framework of Cole at the end of his life being guided back through the story by “Gabe” (Jonathan Pryce, on the left) as if they’re watching it all take place on a stage with Cole and Gabe as the only audience. Along the way, Gabe questions Cole about things that have happened, giving the older Cole a chance to reflect on his thoughts and feelings (and yes, that is Kevin Kline under all that makeup—which, I’ve read, took 5 hours to apply). This “framework” technique took a bit of getting used to the first time I watched it, but once I saw it all the way through, not only did it make sense, but it added an entirely new dimension to the story (and to Gabe’s quote at the top of this post).

Another method used in this film is intercutting between scenes of Cole working on the music and the music being performed on stage. In this clip, he’s playing the centerpiece song of his new musical, Kiss Me Kate, because Linda is too sick to go to the opening with him.

Kevin Kline not only did his own singing (which was mostly recorded on set as they were filming instead of in a studio), any time he’s sitting at the piano, he’s actually the one playing. Ashley Judd, the so-called “non-singing Judd,” does her own singing in this as well.

As I mentioned, some of Cole Porter’s most beloved music is incorporated in this film:

• “Anything Goes” (Chorus)
• “Well, Did You Evah?” (Kevin Kline & Kevin McNally)
• “You’d Be So Easy to Love” (Kevin Kline)
• “It’s De-Lovely” (Robbie Williams)
• “What Is This Thing Called Love?” (Kevin Kline & Lemar)
• “Let’s Misbehave” (Elvis Costello)
• “Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall in Love)” (Alanis Morissette)
• “True Love” (Ashley Judd & Tayler Hamilton)
• “Night & Day” (John Barrowman)
• “Anything Goes” (Caroline O’Connor & Chorus)
• “Begin the Beguine” (Sheryl Crow)
• “Be a Clown” (Kevin Kline, Peter Polycarpou & Chorus)
• “I Love You” (Mick Hucknall)
• “Just One of Those Things” (Diana Krall)
• “Experiment” (Kevin Kline)
• “Love for Sale” (Vivian Green)
• “So in Love” (Kevin Kline/Lara Fabian & Mario Frangoulis)
• “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye” (Natalie Cole)
• “Blow, Gabriel, Blow” (Jonathan Pryce, Kevin Kline, Cast & Chorus)
• “In the Still of the Night” (Kevin Kline & Ashley Judd)
• “You’re the Top” (Cole Porter)

Now, before you go rent this and then come back here and rant and rave about how much you hated this movie, let me remind you that you’ve been warned: this story is not going to be to everyone’s taste. But it is one of my favorites, so that’s why I’ve blogged about it. That said, here’s my absolute favorite scene from the film: