“Somewhere above the bright rainbow in the sky…” she starts quietly, and the audience exhales. More than one generation has grown up on this song, in each of its lines there is a hope of meeting a beautiful world where dreams come true. She is a girl from a fairy tale, the eternal Dorothy, who miraculously ended up in the magical land of Oz. But her life is nothing like a fairy tale. There is no miracle or magic in it, but there is a golden cage and a golden chain. And too little love. About this is the biopic Judy about the last years of the actress and singer Judy Garland.
MGM Film Studio, 1938. Sixteen-year-old Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm, but that name won’t get you far) is playing the role that would become the most stellar of her career and even earn her a «youth Oscar,» Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. Judy is no stranger to work: she has been performing on stage since she was two and a half years old — but now the girl works 18 hours a day and gradually begins to forget her name. Although, perhaps, the matter is not only in the colossal loads, but also in the pills that the young actress is stuffed with every day.
In addition to pills, Garland is “fed” with endless stories about how lucky she was: she was taken to the project for her great voice, although her external data leaves much to be desired (however, this is easy to fix with the most severe diets), she does not need to lead a boring, uninteresting, simple life, like most of her peers (“Do you want to be the same? Ordinary housewife? Ordinary mother?”), the studio is her “home”, the film crew is her “family” …
Her life was nothing like a dream. There were too many unfulfilled hopes in her, too much pain
Years will pass, but Judy will never learn to live outside this «house». The studio will grind her, tie her hands and feet, take away everything: her dream, her date of birth, self-confidence… Only the thirst for love and recognition will remain the same, and her voice is her incredible voice.
“Somewhere above the bright rainbow in the sky…” she starts quietly, and the audience exhales. In the middle of the song, Garland trails off, fighting back tears, unable to bring himself to continue. These lines are about a dream, and her life was not at all like a dream. There were too many unfulfilled hopes in her, too much pain. But the audience picks up the song — and, in a sense, Judy Dorothy herself too.
Because behind the mask of the eccentric, scandalous, drinking, aging diva, he was able to see the lost girl who so desperately needs love. And he was able to love this girl, if not, then at least understand.