"This is a love story, and it's a unique love story. It's about a gay man, and the love of his life was a woman." So says Kevin Kline about the Cole Porter biopic "De-Lovely" (2004) in the making-of featurette on the DVD. In the film, Kline portrays Porter, and the woman Kline is talking about is played by Ashley Judd.
"De-Lovely" flopped at the box office, and it got lots of negative reviews, including some that were scathing. When I watched it on DVD, I got into it only very slowly, and there were several sequences that I didn't think worked. But I began to like the movie better as it went along, and overall I found it very engaging. At times it brought me to emotional peaks, and that made me willing to forgive its faults.
Some 30 Cole Porter songs are used in "De-Lovely," but the focus of the film isn't on musical performance. Many songs are presented in an unpolished manner or interrupted or used as background, and the movie is very different from the classic MGM musicals. I would characterize "De-Lovely" as a romantic drama set in the world of a man whose life centered around musical theater.
Kevin Kline plays Porter and performs many of the songs. Kline's singing is adequate, but I wouldn't call it great. However, in terms of drama, that seems right to me: Porter was a composer and lyricist, not a professional singer. By the way, you can hear how mediocre the real Cole Porter's singing voice was when he is heard doing "You're the Top" over the end credits.
But about a dozen of Porter's songs are performed by professional singers, including "It's De-Lovely" by Robbie Williams, "Let's Misbehave" by Elvis Costello, "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love" by Alanis Morissette, "Just One of Those Things" by Diana Krall, and "Ev'ry Time You Say Goodbye" by Natalie Cole. However, I found it a bit jarring that these vocals are sung somewhat differently from the way they would have been in Porter's era. Actually, I hated Sheryl Crow's rendition of "Begin the Beguine."
"De-Lovely" sketches the highlights of Porter's life from 1918, when he was 27 years old, to his death at age 73 in 1964. For 35 of those years, he was married to Linda Lee (Ashley Judd). I was very impressed with the elegant costumes and elaborate sets as the movie shows Cole and Linda living in Paris, Venice, New York, Hollywood, and Williamstown, Massachusetts.
As best it could within the confines of its PG-13 rating, the movie implies that Cole had many sexual relationships with men. In one scene, he's shown giving a peck of a kiss to a shirtless Boris Kochno, star dancer with the Ballets Russes. But the scene that sticks in my mind is where Cole pays for the services of a young male prostitute while Vivian Green sings "Love for Sale."
Linda left Cole for a while in the 1930s, but she came back to him when an accident left him badly crippled. I think the most powerful part of "De-Lovely" is where it shows the Porters growing old together, and at times I found myself choking back tears. The overarching melancholy of the film is perhaps best captured by the song "In the Still of the Night."
Cole's 1937 accident left him physically impaired and in pain for the rest of his life, but he managed to continue to write songs, many of which are still well-known. In a sequence I found moving, he is shown on crutches at the 1948 Broadway opening of what has turned out to be his most durable show, "Kiss Me, Kate."
I think the main thing that emerges from "De-Lovely" is that Cole Porter was a hardworking genius who left an unequaled legacy of songs with witty, sophisticated lyrics and memorable melodies. The movie leaves it mostly up to the viewer to try to fathom the mysteries of what was going on between Cole and Linda and in Cole's various romantic relationships with men. But I believe the film does help us see the connection between Porter's life and his haunting songs like "What Is This Thing Called Love?"
The "De-Lovely" DVD provides a commentary track by screenwriter Jay Cocks and director Irwin Winkler that I found very informative. Cocks has some particularly insightful observations on Porter's life and times. For example, he says that if the celebrated songwriter "had been outed, even obliquely, I think that it would have destroyed him professionally."
In addition, the DVD has a second commentary track, this one by director Irwin Winkler and lead actor Kevin Kline. However, I quickly got bored with it and abandoned listening after less than half an hour.
The DVD also contains a 25-minute making-of, a 15-minute featurette on the movie's music, brief featurettes on the "Be a Clown" and "Love for Sale" scenes, and nine deleted scenes. I found these bonus materials to be only mildly interesting. On the next page, I've listed all the special features of the "De-Lovely" DVD.
Continued on the Next Page: DVD Details
