Judy
Directed by Rupert Goold
- drama
- history
- music
The story
Thirty years after starring in 'The Wizard of Oz', beloved actress and singer Judy Garland arrives in London to perform sold-out shows at the Talk of the Town nightclub. While there, she reminisces with friends and fans and begins a whirlwind romance with musician Mickey Deans, her soon-to-be fifth husband.
What it’s like
Warm tungsten stage light against deep, smoky dark, with the film's most tender frames held in soft, close handheld intimacy. The London of 1968 is rendered in damp greys, bottle-green velvet, and the hazy amber of backstage dressing rooms, while flashbacks to the MGM years shift into brighter, more saturated Technicolor. Long takes let performances breathe, and the music, sung live on set, carries the emotional weight, from big-band swing to a stripped-down piano ballad that can quiet a room. The mood is melancholy and bittersweet, with flickers of humour and affection between Judy and the people who adore her, though it stays unsentimental about exhaustion, insecurity and dependence on pills and alcohol. Addiction is depicted frankly, with sharp outbursts, unsteady nights and a few brief scenes of drug use, but there is no graphic gore or sustained violence. Its rhythm is slow and reflective, suited to a quiet evening, a rainy weekend, or a late-night watch by someone who wants a grounded portrait of a performer's fragility, and of the tenderness that found her in her last months. Viewers drawn to music biopics and to Renée Zellweger's raw, committed central performance will find it especially rewarding.
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