Judy: A Swan Song

Judy is a familiar tale about an aging actress who has long struggled with the perils of fame. While nothing about this movie feels particularly fresh or novel (sadly, such stories are a tale as old as time), what is marvelous about it is the central performance by Renee Zellweger. Give the lady an Oscar nomination, she has earned it.

Set in 1969, the movie tells the story of Judy's London tour when she was in her late forties, a desperate attempt to get some money so she could provide a stable home for her children and not lose custody to her third husband, Sidney Luft (played by Rufus Sewell, who I love and never get to see much of anymore). The film also features flashbacks to Judy Garland's days as a child actress on the set of The Wizard of Oz. Young Judy is played wonderfully by Darci Shaw, and through these flashbacks we get to see the cruel way she was treated by Louis B. Mayer and her handlers. She was a work horse, denied any semblance of a childhood, and was also fed a constant diet of drugs to suppress her appetite, keep her thin, and make her sleep, all of which led to her crippling addictions and anxieties in later life.

The Zellweger performance is incandescent and she fully inhabits this role. Twitchy and nervous, both untrusting and naive, she captures all of the woman's complexities, and then walks on to the stage to also capture her voice. At this point in her life, Judy's voice wasn't great - she had undergone a tracheotomy two years prior following a suicide attempt, and all the drinking, pills, smoking, and exhaustion had certainly taken their toll. All this to say that Zellweger isn't meant to be delivering a bravura singing performance. But what she does deliver is the dramatic flair and love of performing that always drove Judy Garland despite all her neuroses. When she takes the stage, she isn't just singing a song - she is singing her heart out. At the end of the movie, when we finally get to that long-awaited performance of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, I defy you not to feel moved. 

Judy is not a masterpiece. Adapted from the stage play, End of the Rainbow, by Peter Quilter, it has its melodramatic beats and flights of fancy. But that central performance anchors the whole thing and keeps you riveted to the screen for two hours. Special kudos are also due to costume designer Jany Temime, and the hair and makeup designer Jeremy Woodhead, because their transformative work are integral to making this performance work. Overall, it's a standard biopic that is elevated by a brilliant actress. Whether you're a classic film buff or not, Judy Garland was a star, and you know her music even if you don't know the woman. This movie is well worth your time.