Florence Foster Jenkins (2016) on Netflix
PG-1320161h 51mBiographyComedyDrama
A New York heiress, Florence Foster Jenkins, takes singing lessons and hires the pianist Cosmé McMoon. Her companion St. Clair Bayfield warns McMoon not to criticize her voice.
- Netflix3.4/5
- IMDb6.8/1062,674 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes88%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1944, Florence Foster Jenkins, a socialite and heiress in New York, founded the Verdi Club out of her love of music. She lives in a suite in a grand hotel. St. Clair Bayfield, a British Shakespearean actor, serves as her manager and long-time companion, and he keeps a separate home with Kathleen Weatherley. Florence has long-term syphilis from her first husband, Frank Jenkins. After seeing Lily Pons in concert with Bayfield, she takes up singing lessons and hires the pianist Cosmé McMoon. Her vocal coach Carlo Edwards praises her voice, and Bayfield warns McMoon against criticizing it.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Florence Foster Jenkins (2016)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Meryl Streep's performance as the tone-deaf heiress earned her a Best Actress Oscar nomination that marked the 20th Academy Award nomination of her career.
- To play a woman famous for singing badly, Meryl Streep trained with a real singing coach, and Frears defended the difficulty of the performance by saying "you can only sing badly if you are a good singer."
- Filming took place in Liverpool and the city was transformed into 1940s New York City, with Liverpool's Drury Lane being turned into Central Park West, where Streep and Grant were spotted filming in June 2015.
- Director Stephen Frears knew little about the real Florence Foster Jenkins before reading the script, and only became interested in the project after watching YouTube videos of her, noting that "you're laughing and she touches you" because the story is inherently ridiculous and courageous at once.
