The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
    • Shows & On demand
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureCinemaMovie reviews

Behind the Candelabra

Behind the Candelabra | Movie review
29 May 2013
Aydan Savaskan
Avatar
Aydan Savaskan
29 May 2013

For a film about perhaps the fluffiest of all light entertainers, the most gimmicky of showmen, the performer whose motto might as well have been “style over substance”, Behind the Candelabra is undoubtedly one of the more thoughtful and moving films to come out this year.

Steven Soderbergh’s film tells the story of Liberace’s relationship with Scott Thorson, through the seventies and eighties and gives a fascinating insight into one of Hollywood’s most mythologised stars in the process.

The film is closely based on the autobiographical novel Thorson published a year after Liberace’s death, so the events tend to be told from his point of view. However, it’s a remarkably impartial account, putting neither character on a pedestal.

We follow Thorson as he goes from being a young man from Wisconsin without the slightest hint of glamour, to Liberace’s personal valet and lover, living with him in his majestically camp palace in Palm Springs.

The film’s excellent set and costume design offer a fun glimpse of the kind of stylistic eccentricity and excess Liberace became known for. It reminds the audience of a kind of camp glamour that now feels very much part of a bygone era not only in terms of fashion, but also gay politics. However, the film essentially operates on a human level.

It is a candid exploration of loneliness, friendship and love, driven by first class performances from Matt Damon – who shows his versatility in his role as Thorson – and Michael Douglas as Liberace, perhaps the most convincing role of his career.

The two actors portray a real life love affair as complicated as any. It moves from sweet and funny to sad and disturbing fairly quickly, as Liberace’s insatiable desire for new and ever younger lovers clashes with Thorson’s spiralling drug habit.

Even though the story threatens to descend into the usual clichéd world of rock ‘n’ roll excess and destruction, Behind the Candelabra is thankfully too intelligent to dwindle there.

While not eligible for Academy Awards, this touching film must surely still be destined for sweeping recognition as one of the best American films of the year.

★★★★★

Aydan Savaşkan

Behind the Candelabra is released nationwide on 7th June 2013.

Watch the trailer for Behind the Candelabra here:

Related Itemsreview

More in Movie reviews

Imperial Blue

★★★★★
Guy Lambert
Read More

MLK/FBI

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More

Sing Me a Song

★★★★★
Abbie Grundy
Read More

A Night of Horror: Nightmare Radio

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More

Wonder Woman 1984

★★★★★
Jake Cudsi
Read More

Come Away

★★★★★
Sylvia Unerman
Read More

Murder Me, Monster

★★★★★
Andrew Murray
Read More

David Byrne’s American Utopia

★★★★★
Rosamund Kelby
Read More

Dreamland

★★★★★
Guy Lambert
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Female filmmakers lead nominees for the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards
    Cinema
  • An interview with Ifrah Ismael: Tales from the Front Line and other stories
    Theatre
  • The Queen’s Gambit: A chess story that’s not about the moves but the motives
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Sleaford Mods – Spare Ribs
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Jeremiah Fraites: Piano Piano
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Win a copy of Link on Blu-ray
    Competitions
  • Unlimited Festival at the Southbank Centre: Centre stage for diversity
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • RSC Next Generation: Young Bloods proves Shakespeare is timeless
    Theatre
  • The White Tiger
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • The different types of Covid testing explained
    Tech & Sport
  • WandaVision: Marvel’s charming sitcom proves an astounding success
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • The Queen’s Gambit: A chess story that’s not about the moves but the motives
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Undercover at Morpheus Show Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Ten short literary collections to get you back into reading
    Literature
  • Mayor
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Daft Punk – Random Access Memories | Album review
Face to Face Festival at LOST | Theatre review