Marguerite

Director Xavier Giannoli’s homage to both the Dadaist movement present in Paris in the 1920s and the life and legend of Florence Foster Jenkins, an American socialite whose lifelong need to perform was ridiculed due to her lack of pitch and tone and her inability to recognize that she could not sing a note, made even worse by her on going battle with syphilis! Two self-absorbed writers come upon the untalented diva performing at a charity event who is completely unaware of her inability to sing thanks to her circle of family and friends unwilling to break her spirited though excruciating recitals. As anarcho-vaudevillian parody, she is encouraged to reach a wider audience at a Parisian dancehall, where her opening act is a debate on post-war currency! The eccentric Marguerite Dumont eats only white-colored food and collects set pieces from operas past, including a gigantic plaster eye she uses as a yard ornament, as well as surreal costumes and peacock feathers. It’s Bunuel with a touch of Lucia Pamela focusing on how insignificant no talent is also a product of free expression!

[R]