De-Lovely

An old Cole Porter watches a rehearsal of his own life in an empty theatre. The director onstage shows him his past in order: the Paris years, his marriage to Linda, Broadway, Hollywood, the riding accident and the thirty operations that followed. The film is not interested in a musical career. It is interested in how a marriage worked: Porter has relationships with men, Linda knows, and the marriage continues anyway. The film neither hides the arrangement nor ties it to an easy explanation. The form tells the story through song: the numbers are set inside the narrative and most are sung by contemporary musicians. Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow, Alanis Morissette and Robbie Williams appear across the film, and that choice became its most disputed aspect. Irwin Winkler directed. He is principally a producer, the name behind films like Rocky and Raging Bull. The film screened as the closing film of the 2004 Cannes festival. Kevin Kline plays Porter and Ashley Judd plays Linda. Kline sings in his own voice. Who it is for: viewers who like Cole Porter's repertoire and musical biographies. Who it is not for: anyone who wants period music in a period voice. Modern performers dominate the cast and the narrative frame comes apart at times.