Camp-tastic!

Rating: 8/10 (29 July 2013)

Steven Soderbergh returns to direct the Liberace biography drama Behind the Candelabra. The film is based on the autobiography of one of Liberace's former lovers, Scott Thorson. The film documents their six year relationship as well as delving deeply into the mind of one of the world's most loved pianists. With any biographical film, you must be wary of dramatisation, but Soderbergh delivers yet another film full of emotion, led by two fantastic performances from Michael Douglas as Liberace and Matt Damon as Scott Thorson.
The film begins and ends, touchingly, with Liberace doing what he does best: performing. The film portrays all sides to the great musician: the good, the bad and the down right outrageous that makes the film so entertaining. The controversy behind their relationship was that Thorson was so much younger than Liberace. What began as as a lustful romance, later turned into a relationship filled with jealousy, pain and self-torture as the pair drifted apart.
The different phases of the relationship are documented in such an intimate way that you can really feel Thorson and Liberaces relationship breaking up right in front of you. Both Damon and Douglas are an engrossing partnership and behind all the glitz and the glam, keep the film together with two fantastic performances.
In a film that could have been so easily lost behind Liberaces fame and extravagance, Soderbergh and Douglas both manage to capture the heart of Liberace whilst telling a story which evokes a full range of emotions. Camp-tastic.
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