Judy
4 stars
Director: Rupert Goold
Stars: Renée Zellweger, Jessie Buckley, Finn Wittrock
Duration: 118 mins
Class: 12A
KRS Releasing Ltd

Judy Garland (real name Frances Ethel Gumm) was born into a showbiz family in 1922. Her parents were performers who ran a theatre for vaudevillian acts. Aged a mere two and a half, Garland was already joining her family on stage, a very early start to a career that lasted almost 45 years, until her untimely death in 1969.

Garland won the hearts of millions of fans around the world with her repertoire of stage and screen performances, channelling her wit, warmth and incredible vocal ability. Yet by 1969, Garland was a shadow of the child star she was in the 1930s.  A life of heavy drinking made her unreliable to work with, leading her into massive debt. 

By then, Judy had young children and in order to make some money, she accepts a lucrative job offer to perform in London at The Talk of the Town, Bernard Delfont’s (Michael Gambon) fashionable dinner and cabaret club. 

Judy, which stars Renée Zellweger as the eponymous star, charts Garland’s stay in London which by then had transformed from a war-torn city to one in the throes of the Swinging Sixties. 

Exhausted and surviving on a diet of pills and booze, Judy struggles to make good on her commitment, with the help of Rosalyn Wilder (Jessie Buckley), the woman assigned to be her assistant throughout her stay.  To make matters worse, Judy’s ex-husband Sidney Luft (a sympathetic Rufus Sewell) is fighting for custody of the children back in LA.  

Yet, Judy is a trouper. The moment she steps on stage she is in her element – the music invigorates her; her adoring fans egg her on, and her troubles are forgotten. However, her elation at being back on stage is tempered by flashbacks to 30 years before when as, aged 16, she prepped for the movie that would render her immortal – The Wizard of Oz.            

The film written by Tom Edge and directed by Robert Goold segues effortlessly between the different eras, focusing on Garland’s experience while making Oz as illustrated by the predatory and ultimately abusive studio mogul Louis B Mayer.

Yet, the film belongs to Zellweger in a heart-warming and heart-rending performance

 “I make movies, Judy,” he tells her. “But your job is to give people dreams.” Yet, this was clearly to be had at the expense of her own dreams. By now pretty much having had enough of showbiz, Judy dreams of a normal life as she struggles with a crush on friend and fellow child star Mickey Rooney; works 18-hour days, while under the constant watch of her ghastly chaperone.

She is constantly being bullied about her weight and forbidden to eat – and constantly being fed appetite suppressants and sleeping pills, marking the onset off the addictions that would haunt Judy’s life. It highlights the darkness of what she found over that rainbow; and is all the more poignant for the committed performance from newcomer Darci Shaw as the young Judy.

Yet the film belongs to Zellweger in a heart-warming and heart-rending performance.  Aided by a superb hair and makeup job, the physical transformation into the 47-year-old Garland is spot on; but Zellweger’s biggest coup is capturing the humanity of the woman. She was funny, warm and caring, as most people who came into contact with her soon came to realise – which makes her life all the more tragic. 

Amid the singing (which Zellweger pulls off skilfully), the boozing, pill-popping, laughter and tears she projects the pathos that Garland carried throughout her life. You cringe as she has to be dragged to the theatre for her first performance, high as a kite. 

You applaud as she belts out her show-stopping songs; and feel her overwhelming sadness as she comes to the realisation that her kids are better off without her, and rail against the string of men who took advantage of her during her life, including the charmer Mickey (Finn Wittrock) who continues to promise impossible dreams.   

The filmmakers do fall into the trap of nostalgic sentimentality at moments. The final scene a shameless tug on the heartstrings which is totally unnecessary; as by then your heart is well and truly pierced. But overall, Judy is a beautiful homage to the woman being celebrated, powered by an astonishing central performance. 

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