The Tyranny of Ambition
He gets his joy vicariously...playing God to his heiress.
Everyone knows I like to review movies I find interesting. These days it is hard to find films that are organic, original and compelling.
Channel surfing late last night I caught Florence Foster Jenkins, a 2016 film starring Hugh Grant and Meryl Streep. Directed by Steven Frears, it is extremely unique. It took me a few minutes to get hooked, but as it unfolded, I became enchanted.
Why? Well, it is set in the 1944 New York. Though filmed in Liverpool, the filmmakers cleverly transformed the downtown area to look exactly like Manhattan in 1944. Reflecting the post war exuberance, the message is all about privilege and ambition.
Streep plays Florence Foster Jenkins, an heiress to great wealth and a retired musical instructor, who fancies herself becoming an operatic singer. She hires an assistant, Hugh Grant, who becomes her lifelong companion. Since both are such amazing actors, I was interested in the motives for both actors to accept roles in such an unusual, somewhat dark, almost gloomy psychological mystery drama. I came away with an even higher regard for both them and the script. Though it was not a big box office hit, it has received widespread accolades for it’s excellence in moviemaking.
Though Miss Jenkins is the object of both affection and ridicule, we can’t help but feel compassion for her relentless ambition. Beyond the charming yet disturbing characters surrounding Jenkins, pandering to her ego, pretending that they are serving her interests, there is a lot of subtext: Issues that are ignored and left unsaid.
I also have a reputation for reading into films subtle allegory. Something I learned in college when my professors would point out metaphors I completely missed while reading the Classics.
In this case, I couldn’t help but see the parallels with todays political scene.
For example, Hugh Grant, St. Clair Bayfield (Jenkin’s loyal pseudo lover/companion) is a metaphor of our modern media. They (the media complex) tell us what we are seeing. They babysit us, manipulate information, control the narrative, and polish the egos of their audience, just like Bayfield does for Miss Jenkins, who he affectionately refers to as ‘Bunny’.
Bayfield hires Cosme McMoon, an aspiring and upcoming classical pianist, to accompany the aspiring singer. They practice relentlessly, though she is never able to carry a tune. Before her occasional public performances, Mr. McMoon suffers anxiety attacks, knowing they will be embarrassed and mocked. He worries his musical legitimacy will be impugned. He challenges Bayfield about his fears:
McMoon, “I am a serious pianist!”Bayfield, “Oh, you think I don’t have ambition? I was a good actor. But I was never going to be a great actor. It was very hard to admit that to myself. But once I had, I felt free from the tyranny of ambition.”
This is a central point of the film. It takes work to disengage oneself from the search for approval. But once you do, you are free to express yourself, to create and live!
To me, Cosme McMoon represents post WW II traditional Liberal Democrats: Hard working, ambitious patriots, willing to do whatever it takes to further the American Legacy, but worried about looking bad to our allies. Conflicted but ambitious to lose the colonialist image. But Bayfield, on the other hand, embraces ambition, but prefers to watch it consume Miss Jenkins. He gets his joy vicariously, while floating around the social circles in the background, playing God to his heiress.
Meanwhile, Florence Foster Jenkins, brilliantly portrayed by Streep, is an allegory for Joe Biden’s Presidency. America has just barely survived the four years of Biden’s complete ineptitude. He claimed to have restored the Covid damaged economy, while engaging us in another endless war of attrition in Ukraine . He printed new money and spread it around carelessly, buying friends while depleting the power of the dollar. All along promising to unite our racially conflicted country. Instead, by abandoning border controls, he managed to disrupt any sense of community we had before Covid. In just four years, he piled an additional $10 trillion onto the existing $26 trillion national debt.
He was simultaneously mocked and applauded.
We are no closer to peace in Ukraine, the Gaza Strip, the streets of Minnesota, Detroit or Manhattan. The poor old guy may have meant well, but unfortunately, he never had the skill set, the personality or the work ethic to fill the role. But he did have the sycophantic supporting cast. The well compensated, misinformed or just ideologically driven worker bees that found ways to keep his illusions alive.
At the conclusion of Florence Foster Jenkins final Carnegie Hall concert, a full house stood in admiration for an old lady who simultaneously exhibited hubris and ambition, while butchering the lyrics and dancing like a kindergartener. The audience screams at her, mocking her musicianship, while clapping and whistling at her ‘comedic genius’.
I would suggest the audience reaction personifies Cognitive Dissonance. The single most persistent and mystifying cultural phenomenon of the 21st Century in America.
Based on a true story, the writers weave unbreakable determinations, self delusion, personal loyalty and love, all intertwined with humor and sadness. Something you don’t often see in the modern era of filmmaking.
Maybe the filmmakers could someday make a sequel: Joseph Robinette Biden/The Tyranny of Ambition.
At the 89th Academy Awards, Meryl Streep was nominated for Best Actress, which marked her 20th Oscar nomination, and the film won Best Costume Design. It also received four nominations at the 74th Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. In December, 2016 Hugh Grant won Best Actor at the Evening Standard British Film Awards show.
To buy/rent go to: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=florence+foster+jenkins+full+movie
Love to hear what you think.