Behind the Candelabra

Well, yesterday night had to be the most camp evening ever, with a science fiction double feature consisting of the HBO film Behind the Candelabra, and my all time favorite movie, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Behind the Candelabra stars Michael Douglas as famed piano player Liberace, and Matt Damon plays his much younger lover, Scott Thorson. The film was dierected by Steven Soderberg, director of Magic Mike and Erin Brokovich. The film is adapted from the autobiographical novel written by Scott Thorson entitled 'My Life With Liberace' detailing his relationship with Liberace, detailing the periods he spent with Liberace up until the musicians death of complications from AIDS

Michael Douglas is absolutely fantastic as Liberace, an entertainer who was at one point the highest paid entertainer in the world, and who was a closeted homosexual, who was subsequently sued by his chauffeur and former lover. Liberace was known for his flamboyant extroverted performances, which always featured a candelabra on the piano, hence the title. Douglas manages to craft a man who looks beyond the high camp of what

the world saw, and who manages to craft a real human being from the pieces of hi-jinx.

Matt Damon is also great as Scott Thorson, a young man who met Liberace when he was only sixteen and Liberace was 51, and who is taken in by the inexorable world of fame, money and Christal! Damon is also fantastic in the role, as a young man who struggles to cope with his life, and who finally sees the loneliness which hides behind the facade of fame and glamour, and who falls down the rabbit hole of fame into a pit of addiction and obsession.

 

Overall Behind the Candelabra is a fantastic film, and manages to show the audience behind the facade, and which features simply fantastic performances from its leads, and which is well handled by Soderberg. The film looks great, and the clothes and the mansion are recreated with a stunning accuracy and vibrancy, and which remains respectful to the man and the relationship upon which this story is based, and never parodies or ridicules the events portrayed. This is a fantastic film which is sure over time to become one of my all time favorite films, and which is delightfully acted and beautifully shot. Rating: A+

Liberace: Too Much of a good thing is wonderful