Review: Behind The Candelabra
I read an article a few months ago about a film being made on the later life of Liberace. Not that I was ever a fan Liberace per se, my first thoughts were ‘Michael Douglas playing Liberace! Matt Damon playing his lover! This I’m going to have to see!’ Well it finally hit the UK cinemas last night…sort of; only one cinema within miles of my city centre was screening it - did the preview screenings last month not go down well? I’m shocked! Anyway, here are my thoughts:
You know that Scott (Matt Damon) is gay from the outset; a friend of his, Rob/Bob (Scott Bakula - Quantum Leap) picks him up and takes him to see his friend Liberace ‘in concert’ in Vegas - remember, these are the times when concerts were played out in smoky lounges and bars that are quite intimate and relaxed and not the huge venues were are used to today. Scott is almost in awe of Liberace and Rob, seeing this, points out to Scott that Liberace is gay. Following the concert, Rob takes Scott backstage to meet Liberace (Lee) and here is the turning point in their two lives.
Following their first night together, where Lee has kept to his word of keeping his hands to himself, they wake the next morning to Liberace telling Scott ‘Well somebody’s up!’ And so the affair begins. *I roped my sister into coming with me to see this film - I told her nothing about it other than it was about Liberace. I had to laugh when she hid her face saying ‘OMG! He’s not going to kiss him is he? OMG! He is! He did!’
Scott is ‘employed’ as a driver and general dogsbody and Lee asks him to move in with him, to the annoyance of Billy (Lee’s previous companion) who realises that he’s been passed over for a younger model and the life of luxury that he’d become accustomed to is about to end. *On moving-in day I howled when Scott walked through the house looking for Lee: he passes the open bathroom door, there’s a man standing there, with his back to him, leaning over the wash basin. Scott begins to ask if he’s seen Lee. The man turns around and it is Lee…wrapped in a towel, minus the hairpiece, looking decidedly aged. He reminded me of Danny De Vito as The Penguin in Batman. Scott’s face was a picture; I thought he was going to hotfoot it back out of there. I almost cried with laughter!
As their relationship progresses, Lee showers his young lover with gifts but keeps him close, rarely going out on ‘dates’ and preferring to stay within the privacy of his home where they can spend all day making out…
Scott: ‘How do you stay hard so long - that’s the fourth time since lunch?!’
Lee: ‘I have implants!’
Lee and his mother seem quite close; she goes to his shows, stays at his house every now and then. On one visit she’s playing the slots while talking to Scott. She hits the jackpot but no money comes out of the machine:
Mother (looking down at the empty cash tray): ‘I won! But where’s the money?’
Scott goes in search of Lee.
Mother: ‘I want my money! I won!’
Lee offers her some money.
Mother: ‘I won more than that!’
Lee: ‘But this is all we have in the house.’
Mother: ‘I take cheques!’
It is after one of these visits that Lee realises that he’s aging and is beginning to look like her. He decides on plastic surgery…a facelift, and goes to see his plastic surgeon, Dr Jack (Rob Lowe). The surgery is major: nips, tucks, implants - they show the cutting and slicing but I’m sure that that is just for effect. Anyway, the transformation is truly amazing; not only is Douglas barely recognisable as himself (except for the eyes), he actually holds a good likeness to Liberace! *Another howler: I’d completely forgotten that Rob Lowe was in this film and when he first appeared on screen the shock of his ‘disguise’ had me in stitches; he looked like a cross between Joan Rivers and Sly Stallone’s mother Jackie - a nip, tuck and stretch too far…he could barely open his eyes. I don’t think that Rob Lowe has ever made me laugh before. Hilarious!!!
It’s not long after that that Scott is persuaded to go under the knife as well - Lee wants to transform him into a ‘mini-me’ but Scott ends up looking like a blonder version of Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing instead.
As the months pass, Lee suggests that they should see other people as well as each other. Scott agrees. Lee, on seeing Scott with another man, gets jealous and takes back the suggestion, now saying that they should be exclusive. Again Scott agrees. He keeps to his side of the bargain but, knowing how sex mad Lee is and knowing that they rarely get it on these days, Scott believes that Lee has been seeing someone else and confronts him about it. This is the start of the slippery slide into the end of their relationship. Scott sees himself as Billy from old, watching on while Lee flirts with his younger entourage. He’s taking drugs, drinking heavily and spending less and less time with Lee and more time with other friends. Eventually Lee turfs him out. The break-up is less than amicable.
And forward another couple of years: the newspapers have reported the death of Rock Hudson from Aids. Scott is working in a diner when he gets a call from Lee asking how he is. Lee tells Scott that he’s ill and would like to see him. The closing scenes are of Scott at Lee’s bedside - Lee is dying of Aids (you would never in a million years recognise Michael Douglas) and admits to Scott that his happiest days were those he spent with him. There were tears. So sad! The funeral is just that, a funeral.
I’m not really sure what I expected from the film (curiosity more than anything was what bought me my ticket), but whatever it was, the film turned out far better than I imagined it would. Michael Douglas was most definitely the star of the show: he talked the talk, walked the walk - absolutely FABULOUS!! If there is only one film that you see in the cinema this year, make it this one!!!
You know that Scott (Matt Damon) is gay from the outset; a friend of his, Rob/Bob (Scott Bakula - Quantum Leap) picks him up and takes him to see his friend Liberace ‘in concert’ in Vegas - remember, these are the times when concerts were played out in smoky lounges and bars that are quite intimate and relaxed and not the huge venues were are used to today. Scott is almost in awe of Liberace and Rob, seeing this, points out to Scott that Liberace is gay. Following the concert, Rob takes Scott backstage to meet Liberace (Lee) and here is the turning point in their two lives.
Following their first night together, where Lee has kept to his word of keeping his hands to himself, they wake the next morning to Liberace telling Scott ‘Well somebody’s up!’ And so the affair begins. *I roped my sister into coming with me to see this film - I told her nothing about it other than it was about Liberace. I had to laugh when she hid her face saying ‘OMG! He’s not going to kiss him is he? OMG! He is! He did!’
Scott is ‘employed’ as a driver and general dogsbody and Lee asks him to move in with him, to the annoyance of Billy (Lee’s previous companion) who realises that he’s been passed over for a younger model and the life of luxury that he’d become accustomed to is about to end. *On moving-in day I howled when Scott walked through the house looking for Lee: he passes the open bathroom door, there’s a man standing there, with his back to him, leaning over the wash basin. Scott begins to ask if he’s seen Lee. The man turns around and it is Lee…wrapped in a towel, minus the hairpiece, looking decidedly aged. He reminded me of Danny De Vito as The Penguin in Batman. Scott’s face was a picture; I thought he was going to hotfoot it back out of there. I almost cried with laughter!
As their relationship progresses, Lee showers his young lover with gifts but keeps him close, rarely going out on ‘dates’ and preferring to stay within the privacy of his home where they can spend all day making out…
Scott: ‘How do you stay hard so long - that’s the fourth time since lunch?!’
Lee: ‘I have implants!’
Lee and his mother seem quite close; she goes to his shows, stays at his house every now and then. On one visit she’s playing the slots while talking to Scott. She hits the jackpot but no money comes out of the machine:
Mother (looking down at the empty cash tray): ‘I won! But where’s the money?’
Scott goes in search of Lee.
Mother: ‘I want my money! I won!’
Lee offers her some money.
Mother: ‘I won more than that!’
Lee: ‘But this is all we have in the house.’
Mother: ‘I take cheques!’
It is after one of these visits that Lee realises that he’s aging and is beginning to look like her. He decides on plastic surgery…a facelift, and goes to see his plastic surgeon, Dr Jack (Rob Lowe). The surgery is major: nips, tucks, implants - they show the cutting and slicing but I’m sure that that is just for effect. Anyway, the transformation is truly amazing; not only is Douglas barely recognisable as himself (except for the eyes), he actually holds a good likeness to Liberace! *Another howler: I’d completely forgotten that Rob Lowe was in this film and when he first appeared on screen the shock of his ‘disguise’ had me in stitches; he looked like a cross between Joan Rivers and Sly Stallone’s mother Jackie - a nip, tuck and stretch too far…he could barely open his eyes. I don’t think that Rob Lowe has ever made me laugh before. Hilarious!!!
It’s not long after that that Scott is persuaded to go under the knife as well - Lee wants to transform him into a ‘mini-me’ but Scott ends up looking like a blonder version of Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing instead.
As the months pass, Lee suggests that they should see other people as well as each other. Scott agrees. Lee, on seeing Scott with another man, gets jealous and takes back the suggestion, now saying that they should be exclusive. Again Scott agrees. He keeps to his side of the bargain but, knowing how sex mad Lee is and knowing that they rarely get it on these days, Scott believes that Lee has been seeing someone else and confronts him about it. This is the start of the slippery slide into the end of their relationship. Scott sees himself as Billy from old, watching on while Lee flirts with his younger entourage. He’s taking drugs, drinking heavily and spending less and less time with Lee and more time with other friends. Eventually Lee turfs him out. The break-up is less than amicable.
And forward another couple of years: the newspapers have reported the death of Rock Hudson from Aids. Scott is working in a diner when he gets a call from Lee asking how he is. Lee tells Scott that he’s ill and would like to see him. The closing scenes are of Scott at Lee’s bedside - Lee is dying of Aids (you would never in a million years recognise Michael Douglas) and admits to Scott that his happiest days were those he spent with him. There were tears. So sad! The funeral is just that, a funeral.
I’m not really sure what I expected from the film (curiosity more than anything was what bought me my ticket), but whatever it was, the film turned out far better than I imagined it would. Michael Douglas was most definitely the star of the show: he talked the talk, walked the walk - absolutely FABULOUS!! If there is only one film that you see in the cinema this year, make it this one!!!