Behind the Candelabra
The life of a mega celebrity must be pretty lonely. For one, you can never really tell you wants to be around you for you or who is just around you for the money. Add that to a sleuth of people who want to ride your tail coats, hoping if they cling onto you they become famous themselves. If you garnish all of this with having to hide your sexuality from adoring fans and public, then it can create a very unhappy life. Thus was the life for incredible piano player Liberace. Behind The Candelabra is an intimate look at the stars life and his secret ten year affair with Scott Thorson.
Based on Thorson’s memoirs of the same name, Behind The Candelabra is a brilliant and spectacular tale about the piano man the world refused to believe was gay. Played by Matt Damon, Thorson, a dog trainer, soon embarks on a crazy ten years of his life after being introduced to Liberace at a Las Vegas show. Liberace, exquisitely here by Michael Douglas, wants a companion and lavishes all he can on Thorson to fill that lonely void all the while keeping his up the pretence that he is a ladies heartthrob. This black comedy directed by Steven Soderbergh is full of secrets, fights, adoration and love as Thorson enters the flamboyant world of Liberace.
From the start of the movie, it is clear that the best part of Behind the Candelabra is Michael Douglas. Almost unrecognisable as the flamboyant yet broken star, Douglas infuses Liberace with such a human quality that he steals the scene (quite rightly) from everyone he is with. Almost enticing empathy from the audience, here Douglas neither over nor under does his performance. He balances a camp diva side of Liberace with a lonely and caged person who just wants to feel whole. He is fantastic, giving a performance of a life time.
He is wonderfully counteracted by Matt Damon. Damon as Thorson gives a grounded performance as he struggles to find his identity in the world of Liberace. Their on screen chemistry is truly great. They not only play some intimate moments ridiculously well but they also give the couple that air of realism as they bicker. While people may joke after seeing the hot tub scene or not so explicit sex scene, Douglas and Damon work off each other gorgeously.
The cast here are impeccable and includes some head spinning turns from the likes of Scott Bakula, Debbie Reynolds and Rob Lowe. Yet, it is a shame that Michael Douglas will never be nominated for an Academy Award that he so richly deserves and Behind the Candelabra will be forgotten about Award Season. Hollywood studios refused to fund the film, saying it was “too gay” and it would lose its audience. Luckily, television channel picked it up and aired it. This unluckily meant losing any Academy nod it should have gained. It is a great shame that in this day and age, a movie about a homosexual couple cannot be granted mainstream funding.
Luckily for us, Douglas, Damon and Sodderbergh didn’t care one ounce about awards or money and made the movie to tell a story. Adding another level of wonderful to a film with rhinestones and diamond crusted fur coats, the passion for movies here is apparent.
That too much of a good thing, is wonderful.
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