Judy (2019)

Directed by: Rupert Goold | 118 minutes | biography, drama | Actors: Renée Zellweger, Jessie Buckley, Finn Wittrock, Rufus Sewell, Michael Gambon, Richard Cordery, Royce Pierreson, Darci Shaw, Andy Nyman, Daniel Cerqueira, Bella Ramsey, Lewin Lloyd

Few Hollywood stars have lived such a tragic life as Judy Garland. The versatile former child star, who was born as Frances Ethel Gumm, could not only act but sang the stars from the sky and could also dance a nice party. Little Frances, like her two older sisters, was pushed by her mother to become an artist; she was barely three years old when she first appeared on stage. Ten years later she signed a contract with MGM, which with ‘Gone with the Wind’ (1939) made her unforgettable but at the same time forever so damaging. For example, she was starved for being too fat (she would be plagued for the rest of her life with insecurity about her appearance) and she worked such long days that she was stuffed with pills to keep it up. From the age of 16, she was also sexually harassed by influential studio bosses such as Louis B. Mayer. No wonder this woman was a walking wreck for the rest of her life, battling drug and alcohol addictions, psychological and relationship problems – she married a whopping five times! – and made several suicide attempts until she succumbed to an overdose in 1969, less than two weeks after her 47th birthday. With all the tragedy that surrounds Garland, you would almost forget that she was an exceptional talent, with a beautiful voice and an impressive body of work.

After Judy Davis portrayed her in the 2001 miniseries ‘Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows’ (2001, after the memoir of Garland’s youngest daughter Lorna Luft), it is now Renée Zellweger’s turn to take on the role of to crawl from the Hollywood icon in her twilight years. The biographical film ‘Judy’ (2019) was directed by Rupert Goold, who mainly gained fame as a stage director. It is based on the award-winning play ‘End of the Rainbow’ by Peter Quilter, scripted by the relatively inexperienced Tom Edge. That stage background is unmistakably visible in the film adaptation. Judy Garland’s star is on the wane; for next to nothing she performs in obscure clubs in the US. The money tap dries up and when she stands with her two youngest children at the hotel desk to pick up her key, she is refused. She is forced to take little Lorna and Joey to their father Sidney Luft (Rufus Sewell), who tells her that it is not good for the children if they are dragged from one place to another. Judy fears he wants to take them from her and threatens a custody battle. She refuses to crawl into bed herself, preferring to go to a party with her eldest daughter Liza (Gemma-Leah Devereux, the real Liza Minelli like two drops of water). There she gets the offer to give a series of concerts in the London club Talk of the Town, to which she reluctantly agrees (she doesn’t really like the trip to London, without her children, but she absolutely needs the money) . At the party she also meets the much younger Mickey Deans (Finn Wittrock), with whom she develops a special bond in a short time.

Once in London, Judy is met by theater impressario Bernard Delfont (Michael Gambon) and his co-worker Rosalyn (Jessie Buckley), whom he bombards as Judy’s personal assistant during her stay in the United Kingdom. Judy soon lives up to her reputation as an unreliable and fickle emotional wreck, showing up late to her premiere, reaching for booze and pills, and singing the stars one night while insulting the audience in a drunken stupor the next. She hopes that Mickey can fulfill his promise and secure a lucrative deal for her in America, close to her children. She simply cannot handle another disappointment…

Goold and Edge lard the films with flashbacks to Judy’s time as a child star—the time that shaped her. In the opening scene we immediately see how studio boss Louis B. Mayer (Richard Cordery) manipulates her: she has a talent and can become a bigger child star than Shirley Temple, but then she has to do what he asks of her. She doesn’t care about her appearance, he adds casually. In other flashbacks we also see how she was emptied at a young age; As a publicity stunt, she goes on a date with Mickey Rooney, but she can’t eat the fries and hamburger in front of her. She doesn’t live the life of a normal teenage girl; everything is staged. And whoever thought that intimidation is a modern-day thing is wrong. As early as the 1930s, influential directors and producers were already pushing themselves on young actresses. The flashbacks provide much-needed context and explain what Judy has become as she is. They don’t necessarily need the film, but they do enrich the story. This also applies, for example, to the trip that Judy makes with two London gay men after one of her concerts in Talk of the Town. Most people who know Judy know that she is an icon for the LGBTI community, so that doesn’t necessarily have to be underlined with this scene. But the get-together has another function, which is to also show Garland’s warm side. As long as she is loved unconditionally, and so are these enthusiastic fans, she is happy. That’s why she tied the knot so often; for a moment there was that love and warmth that she had been missing all her life. Only to then thunder hard from the pink cloud and have to drink and swallow the pain again.

Zellweger is undeniably the star of this film. It’s not like she’s completely absorbed in her character; in addition to Garland, you also ‘just’ see the actress herself with her familiar (and for some viewers perhaps irritating) mannerisms and traits. But she cleverly weaves this into her portrayal of the doomed native entertainer Garland. It is also brave that she sings the songs herself, and that she does so without merit. But of course she doesn’t come close to the real Judy, not even when she was already quite affected by all the drink and drug use in her final days. It’s clear that Zellweger feels admiration and sympathy for Garland, even if she can’t quite convey how unstable and broken Judy was, although that could also be due to the script. And it doesn’t make her performance any less bad: that Oscar for best actress is absolutely deserved, because Zellweger was rarely better than here and certainly gets us all into the emotional climax at the end of the film, even if it’s a tried-and-true trick that the makers use for this. Zellweger is surrounded by some great actors, who are forced to play second fiddle, which is a shame especially in the case of Buckley and Gambon.

‘Judy’ is a worthy tribute to Hollywood legend Judy Garland, but falls just short as the ultimate biopic of her life. The scenario is just a bit too flat and polished to really blow your mind. On the other hand, Renée Zellweger plays the role of her life, the viewer gets the wonderful, indestructible show numbers of Judy Garland on a silver platter and it is once again underlined why as a parent you should not want your child to be a big star and lived at a young age. is used by all kinds of people who want to earn fat from him or her.