Decent enough recreation of Liberace's behind-the-scenes, mundane, closeted lifestyle

Rating: 6/10 (8 July 2013)

While he was alive, Liberace did everything he could to prevent his adoring fans (mostly elderly women) from learning that he was gay. 'Behind the Candelabra' focuses on the flamboyant entertainer's private life, particularly on his long-term relationship with his much younger lover, Scott Thorson.
Thorson met Liberace through a mutual acquaintance and gave up on his aspirations to become a veterinarian. Instead, in exchange for material (and sometimes) emotional support, Thorson became both Liberace's lover and personal assistant. Later, Liberace entertained ideas that Thorson could become his adopted son (much to Thorsen's chagrin, Liberace never made this official by signing the legal paperwork).
Early on in this docudrama, Thorson receives a prophetic warning from one of Liberace's former 'concubines', that he too will be discarded by a younger rival. Along the way, Thorson agrees to undergo plastic surgery at Liberace's behest, who seeks to transform the younger man, into the spitting image of Liberace himself. As a result of the surgery, Thorson eventually becomes addicted to drugs, a situation which Liberace comes to despise.
On the other hand, Liberace's penchant for patronizing pornographic shops bothers Thorson, who points out that doing so, could undermine all of Liberace's efforts to remain closeted. The straw that breaks the camel's back is when Liberace tosses Thorson aside for a younger rival, leading to Thorson's big meltdown, where he is unceremoniously escorted from Liberace's mansion, never to return until Liberace's final days.
Take away the fact that this is Liberace, the over the top entertainer, known to millions, the domestic imbroglios between this gay couple, are nothing out of the ordinary. Should we really care when Thorson 'loses it' when Liberace dumps him? After all, it was strictly his decision to live an empty life where an elder benefactor provides all his material wants, at the expense of his own self-satisfaction. And does it really matter who's 'on top', during bouts of anal sex?
Despite the mundane source material, which highlights the couples' self-destructive behavior, there are moments which suggest that both Liberace and Thorson, were at heart, decent people. Take Liberace doing so much for Thorson upon the death of his foster mother (like hiring the chartered plane); by the same token, Thorson is willing to forgive Liberace, and visits him at his deathbed, just as he's about to die from AIDS.
Michael Douglas and Matt Damon do a decent enough job, recreating the roles of the two lovers; but I wonder if it would have been better if two actors who were actually gay, could have brought more to the parts. Debbie Reynolds is great, as well as unrecognizable in the role of Liberace's mother. And director Steven Soderburgh acquits himself well, in presenting this 'warts and all' portrait, of the offbeat showman.
'Behind the Candelabra' may not be everyone's cup of tea not because the material is salacious but rather because it's a bit ordinary. That includes Liberace's music, which to my mind represented a combination of the sublime and the ridiculous. In the end, there's enough here to keep one's interest, but given the subject matter, don't expect any real epiphanies.