Florence Foster Jenkins is the story of a woman with true love for music who had the misfortune of fate going against her when it came the health. When I went for the screening I was expecting something slightly lighter, however a got to witness the hilariously beautiful story of a woman from whom we all could learn a thing of two.
The film opens with Florence’s husband, St Clair Bayfield (Hugh Grant), presenting a number at the members’ club they have founded in New York. The center point of the developing is none other than Florence Foster Jenkins (Meryl Streep) who makes an appearance on stage as an angel ready to mend everything, but in this case just a writer’s, well composer’s, block. As the story progresses we discover that even if Florence has always wanted to become and opera singer, she lacks the actual talent. But, she does not know that as St Clair has protected her from this awful truth.
The audience gets to witness, for the first time, how she really sounds like during the practice with the newly hired musician and composer Cosme McMoon (Simon Helberg) and her usual voice teacher Carlo Edwards (David Haig). The shock caused by Cosme finding the truth is as sad as it’s funny. Soon enough however, as St Clair did, he grows fond of Florence and becomes one of her most fierce allies.
Probably that is Florence’s greatest gift, her humanity and generosity – some people will try to use that against her, other will appreciate it and get rewarded for it. Of course, not everything is as simple as it might seem. St Clair is somewhere between two women, not being able to have a full life with just one – even if fully devoted to Florence, their love is a platonic one because of her syphilis. He in a way leads a double life – spends the day taking care of Florence only to return to the passionate arms of Kathleen (Rebecca Ferguson) each and every evening. Hugh Grant presents us with a very hard to hate character and brilliantly plays to his advantage every vulnerable moments St Clair has.
Meryl Streep as Florence Foster Jenkins hits every possible good note, even when singing the bad ones. She shows us in a very natural way the actual struggle Florence goes through deep down, but also 
presents us with a brave and positive woman who hangs on to dear life and the good things in it as much a possible. It’s a truly motivational role, that will make you second guess any useless drama you create in your life. Florence Foster Jenkins was a lover of music and didn’t hesitate to share that with everyone, because to her, that was what made everything more bearable.
When it comes to the music attached to it, if we don’t pay too much attention to those bad notes, which generally are either too funny or too emotional to be bothered by them, the film is beautifully balanced and everything matches – the flowery rooms, the eccentric at times costumes, the general sense of those post first world war and pre second world war years. Everything is done with great attention to details, even the credits, which tells us what happens as the movie reaches its end.
Florence Foster Jenkins is a true celebration of the woman who did so much for the New York music scene. Stephen Frears managed to find the right tempo and because of that this jolly and triumphant film will keep you entertained every step of the way, without doubt.
Florence Foster Jenkins will be released in the UK on the 6th of May 2016.
