In 1969, Judy Garland traveled to London to be the lead in a cabaret. She was homeless, indebted and one step away from losing her children.
The tickets sold out in no time but the show was anything but solid. Some nights the star was obviously drunk but others made her strong voice the most banal lyrics to sound like pure poetry. But the chronically poor self-esteem, founded in a demanding public life, was always there and expressed itself in alcohol and tablet abuse.
Judy (based on the play End of the Rainbow) takes place during Garland's five chaotic London weeks, which here becomes a compilation of her life: a strictly scheduled existence where artist Judy Garland is expected to give everything by herself but not by herself.
The film is of course a tribute to a great stage artist but also an exposé in things like tabloid culture and personal culture. About what happens to a person whose value is measured solely in appearance and monetary success.
"I'm Judy Garland a few hours a week, the rest of the time I'm a regular person," she says in an interview.
But it is hard to be an ordinary person when you have never been allowed to live freely.
From an early age, the press from both fans and movie companies was always the big-eyed and impeccable Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. But in both Judy and various biographies, it is suggested that Judy Garland was subjected to various forms of fraud and exploitation since childhood. It is therefore easy (probably too easy, humans are complex beings) to see why she chose four spouses who all exploited her in one way or another.
The film also, in a delicate way, underlines Garland's status as a gay icon. This in a meeting with a strange gay couple who, like their idol, were also whipped to live in a certain way.
Renée Zellweger succeeds in shaping all these sentiments and all the stars of what is known as "great acting". From the small ways typical of Garland to the body language of an alcoholic and malnourished person who has not slept a whole night since adolescence. It's a feat.
Incidentally, it is Renée Zellweger herself who sings, with the perfect Garland voice that mixes strength and trembling. Also worth standing ovations.
But it is still hard not to think of Renée Zellweger, the person. About how, when she showed up at a gala in 2014, she caused a scream just by not looking "like herself".
"What happened to her face?" Wrote American E! while Variety asked, "If she no longer looks like herself, is she even the same actress?".
One could paraphrase: "If Judy Garland is not on stage, is she even Judy Garland?"
The demand for how an artist, especially a female, should be and look feels like an issue that is more relevant today than ever. The subject could have been deepened. It also had the supporting characters who are all superficial, from the skeptical manager to the British handsome assistant. But maybe that makes sense. "Judy" is still a movie about the big star with the big gestures. The divan that everyone wanted to see. Perhaps in fact, most of all, when she crashed.