Pass the Popcorn Review

Rating: 8/10 (31 May 2013)

Although it seemed that Steven Soderbergh would retire from film-making after finishing this year's Side Effects, he made another movie, Behind the Candelabra, and then stated he would just take a sabbatical. He might be just indecisive or he might be fooling us and doing it for the publicity, but after watching his last two movies I have to say it would be a shame to lose such an interesting and good director – and brave, I would add, since Behind the Candelabra was rejected by Hollywood movie studios because the story was considered "too gay", so he made it as a TV movie.
This movie is based on the autobiographical novel 'Behind the Candelabra: My Life With Liberace' by Liberace's former lover Scott Thorson. Thorson (played by Matt Damon) and Liberace (Michael Douglas) met when the former was 17 and the latter 57. They started a sexual relationship and Thorson was also incorporated in Liberace's Las Vegas shows. He underwent plastic surgery to look more like Liberace, at the musician's request, and lived at his expenses. Their five-year relationship started to fall apart because of Liberace's promiscuity and Thorson's drug addiction.
Behind the Candelabra is not just a simple biographic movie. It focuses mainly on the characters' relationship and growth as people, so it could be said that not much happens. Most of the scenes are shot indoors, and no character apart from Liberace and Thorson is really relevant. Thorson's evolution keeps the story going: in the beginning he's a healthy young man who wants to be a veterinarian, and then we watch him disappear, lose himself, becoming unable to control his life or his lover. When he tries to rebel, he is rejected and replaced. Liberace remains the same throughout the movie, but only in the end we realize that – he always grew tired of all his relationships.
Douglas and Damon both deliver amazing, touching performances. Liberace's stage costumes, his and Thorson's outfits and the furniture in their houses are all over the top, but fit Liberace's persona perfectly, and Thorson's too, after he becomes sort of a clone of the famous musician. It is a truly great movie, but it might have been better had it concentrated more on Liberace's career and showman skills. In this version, it risks being seen as just another movie about bad relationships.
Rating: 8/10