Judy: Renee Zellweger's haunting performance as Judy Garland elevates standard soap-opera biopic

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By focusing on Judy Garland's doomed final stage tour and her cruel teenage apprenticeship at the MGM studio, this film overlooks her incredible screen career.

Judy plays to a circumscribed vision of Garland in contemporary diva shorthand, signalling her worth in fairly obvious ways as noble victim, bon vivant and of course queer icon — a not insignificant aspect to her fame but one that inspires some thematic spoon-feeding in a scene where she goes home to dinner with a pair of gay superfans.

Here she uses the word"allies" to refer to her audience, and although she doesn't utter it in the same way intersectional feminists might today, it stands out like a knowing wink to the contemporary viewer.There are some moments when the film is more complex and intriguing — the early appearance of Sydney Luft conjures some dark chemistry which remains underexplored.

A more interesting film awaits in these moments, which feel more open to interpretation and less inclined to lay blame or attribute virtue.Judy ends up in territory that's more about fan service than complex character dynamics, in the mould of a beautiful variety show — complete with some expressive, fluid camerawork to accompany Zellweger's hearty renditions of Over The Rainbow and For Once In My Life — and standard soap opera biopic.

It's a pity, but there's enough emotion and sheer tragedy to propel it to the finish, and its central performance lingers for the awful emotional trauma and humanity that it conveys.

 

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