My decision to go see the new movie staring Michael Douglas and Matt Damon was a random one; it was an impulse, driven by a sudden mood to see a new cinematic piece. Having bought my ticket about ten minutes before the performance, I sat down in the red chamois Světozor seat without any expectations. All I knew was the fact that the movie premiered at this year's Cannes Festival and knew all about the plot as fit into the synopsis in the cinema brochure. Also, I heard that it will be slightly heated - so it was. Excessively.
If one is to condense the plot of the movie, then one could simply say: it's about the piano virtuoso of the 1970s, Liberace (Michael Douglas) and his young lover, Scott Thurson and the rise and downfall of their few-year-long relationship. It is evident from the very first scene that all is shot in favour of Scott - the audience is immediately informed of his unstable family background (several foster homes, insane mother) and Liberace is shown to be first a saviour, then the promiscuous sinner. Individuals such as myself who do not have any knowledge of psychology can automatically assume that the young blond lad was over-whelmed from the sudden wealth and care he was suddenly experiencing - even if it was all from a man who could be his grandfather. So blinded was Scott by his admiration of Lee that he even fulfilled his lover's demand for him to undergo facial plastic surgery. Eventually, jealousy, unfaithfulness and Scott's cocaine addiction lead to the couple's (rather dramatic) separation and as if it were Karma, Lee dies some time later from AIDS.
It is without doubt that sexuality is the main driving force of the movie - it is intended to get the audience into the theatre and keep them there. In short, the movie was "hot" - it was full of bed scenes, sexual lines (Scott asks Liberace: "How do you stay hard for so long?" - an advertisement of a penis performance operation from Lee follows), shots of men in tight jeans or glittery swimsuits, sudden jocular crotch-grabbing... It made me feel uncomfortable however, and during such scenes I noticed other people also looking down at their lap in embarrassment or lift their eyebrows. During one specific intimate scene, Liberace tells Scott: "I want to be everything to you, Scott, father, lover, brother, best friend." This made more people in the cinema smirk - no wonder, it is an absurd statement! Especially when Lee became, by law, Scott's father and after their relationship hits ice-level, they separated like a real (married) couple.
The character of Liberace is, unlike the empathetic and occasionally over-emotional Scott, portrayed in a negative, yet even mocking light. He is a man who refuses to grow old and who enjoys his share of plastic surgeries (both on himself and Scott), extravagance (Rolls Royce driving him onto the stage, beautiful fur gowns, shiny stone-covered pianos) and luxury (gold jewellery, Versailles-style decorated mansions, sipping champagne in the Jacuzzi) - all of these interests reflect his intellectual shallowness, but of course also his evident success in show-business. He seems to be in a completely different world than, for example, Bob Black, who in the end turns out to be more of a fatherly figure to Scott than Lee, the "Old Queen."
Behind the Candelabra is a men-only show showing the drama high testosterone levels can create as well as is a documentary of excessively-decorated interiors and before-after physical and mental developments of the characters. It is not however all drama; there are moments of light humour present for example through Lee's occasional story-telling or the character of the cosmetic surgeon Dr. Startz (Rob Lowe), whose mission at one point (this set off a second of laughter from the audience) was to remodel Scott's youthful face into the one of young Liberace. The actors' performances are admirable, though Douglas - for me at least - missed fervidness when speaking, a characteristic that was present in the real Liberace's speeches.
The movie concludes on a both humorous and expressive note - Liberace (now dead) is presented to be standing on stage, suddenly lifted upwards towards the piano and then singing a last piece (most probably written by Scott) before disappearing out of sight of both the smiling Scott and the audience. To disagree with Liberace, too much of a good thing is not wonderful and I was partially glad when the movie was over, for it was a bit too bling-y and shallow. Nevertheless, I can call it thought-provoking and a decent movie to go and see for 118 minutes on a free evening.
