Renee Zellweger portrays silver-screen superstar Judy Garland in the latter stages of her life, in Rupert Goold’s Judy. Judy Garland is broke and begrudgingly takes on a number of stage performances in London to make the money she needs to create a stable home for her two young children. The stress triggers flashbacks of when Judy was a child performer and it’s clear that her stringent childhood still plays a part in her today. Judy has wild insomnia, and drinks and drugs herself into an unreliable state. From one performance to the next, it’s unclear if she is going to be well enough to complete her scheduled shows.
I have heard how Judy Garland had a tumultuous time as a young performer, and this movie delves into the extent of it. Judy is forbidden to eat, and is worked for umpteenth hours a day without allotted breaks. She is given uppers to keep her alert, which she attributes to ruining her sleep at night. Judy is guarded by a woman reminiscent of Miss Gulch, the neighbour character in The Wizard of Oz who becomes the Wicked Witch. If Judy objects to her schedule, she is quickly put in her place by MGM stage manager Louis B. Mayer (Richard Cordery). It feels corny to write, but it seems like Mayer promised Garland the gateway to Oz, but kept her locked in the grey Kansas farmhouse – I think the movie wants us to think that though, through its use of sets; every time Mayer is scolding Judy it seems to be on a movie set with a confined barn. In some movies, flashbacks can seem jarring, as you can get so engrossed in the main course of action that you lose your place when travelling back in time, but I looked forward to the insight given to us through those scenes of Judy as a kid.
There are two moments when the movie lets its characters glare directly at the camera. The first comes as Mayer signals that Judy can choose to turn her back on the studio if she likes, and join the regular folks, who will lead dull lives and dream of the opportunity that Judy has here – Mayer is suggesting that we are the regular folk ☹. The second comes as Judy is flailing through one of her later performances in London, drunk and scolding her crowd for sneering at her, and saying something like “c’mon, don’t I always put on a show?!” It’s meta and she’s right, because even fifty years after her death, audiences of regular folks are still showing up to see Judy Garland perform, even if it’s personified by another actress. You see the sacrifices she has been forced into through her career, and you recognise the child abuse she has suffered, and you feel guilty, because you still want her to hear her sing that God-damn Somewhere Over the Rainbow. By the time the movie gets to her most famous song, Judy Garland sets it up as a song about a journey to a destination or ideal, that you strive for, and may just have to be okay with trying to get there, or something like that. It choked me up, honestly; first time I’ve cried in a movie since Coco, swear to God.
Judy becomes as much about Garland’s interaction with the people around her, as Judy herself. With the metaphor from The Shape of Water in mind, imagine Judy as an island and the side characters of the movie like waves lapping on her shores; as she is shaped by those around her. There’s obvious symmetry meant during the cake scenes; where Judy isn’t allowed to eat cake on her birthday while with the studio, her associates have bought her cake to say farewell in London, and Judy contemplates that she hasn’t been too nice to them. (Judy appears to look at the cake like it’s foreign to her, which is strange since we understand her children are comfortable expecting hamburgers and other exotic demands of hotel staff at all hours of the night when checking into their room. I’m sure Judy has had cake before. Judy has led a lavish live before London and I would have liked to have known how her got into debt in the first place; if that’s mentioned, I must have missed it, but that’s another issue.) The gay couple who attend all of Judy’s performances are humbled to cook her eggs, and the one of the guys ends up crying, overwhelmed by the opportunity to play piano for Judy, even though Judy is really only in his apartment to escape her insomnia. He ultimately repays Judy, for the joy she has brought into his life, by helping her get through her final song, standing up in the crowd at the end. Even Rosalyn (Jessie Buckley) genuinely asks Judy if she is okay when she breaks down drunk before one of her performances; unlike Mayer who scolded Judy for expressing a desire to swim like normal kids on her birthday. The realisation is that the horrible people who led Judy to world-wide success, Mayer and his assistants, are not the ones sustaining it now. Despite her undeniable callous upbringing, Garland’s foundation has afforded her international love and opportunity. She is mistrusting of those enamoured by her – even the adoration of her fifth husband isn’t enough once he proves he can’t fulfil a business agreement – but Judy does find clarity, when faced with no longer performing, through the kindness of strangers. For all Judy’s failings and neurosis, the movie gets to the crux of its message through a final quote from The Wizard of Oz; “A heart is not measured by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.”
Renee Zellweger gives a masterful performance as Judy Garland. I was surprised how well she could sing like Judy, yet every now and then a raspier note that would come through, recognisable to me as Zellweger thanks to the Chicago soundtrack. (I actually looked up and confirmed Zellweger was singing though, after Rebecca Ferguson duped me in The Greatest Showman last year ☹). Zellweger is beautiful, and goes through a full scope of emotions while maintaining Judy Garland’s posture and expression. This movie gets uncomfortable in parts; not Joker-level squeamishness, but it calls on the audience to judge their own ideas and contributions to the anguish inside the human of a performer. It might have been easier to make Judy a tragic tale, or even revel in how Judy Garland’s life unravelled near the end. Instead, I think Judy is a genius take on a remarkable icon of cinema – despite a sad truth behind the life of Judy Garland, the movie finds the light that shines through it.
4.5
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