Beyond the Sea

Bobby Darin had rheumatic fever as a child and the doctors said he would not see fifteen. He lived and became a singer; he had great success at the end of the fifties, worked the Las Vegas stages, made films and married Sandra Dee. But he did not know how long the success would last, and he did everything fast. The film tells his life inside a production that is making a film of his life. Kevin Spacey directs, co wrote the screenplay, plays the lead and sings the songs himself. The formal decision is this: the actor playing Darin is shown while a film about Darin is being made, and his childhood self objects to him on the set. The narrative never leaves that frame. Spacey was forty four when he made it and Darin died at thirty seven; the difference in age was the most criticised thing about it, and the narrative tries to explain it through the inner frame. The singing is not dubbed and Spacey's performance was praised for that. The second subject is a family secret Darin learned late; the film opens it in the last section. It did not do well commercially and was received in two minds. Who it is for: viewers who like musical biography and American pop of the late fifties. Who it is not for: the framing device feels artificial to some, the narrative does not criticise Darin, and the running time is long.