Helen Reddy was a most distinctive and distinguished woman and performer. It is always a tricky process to ask an audience in a work of fiction to accept an actor who looks nothing like the subject of the narrative and believe in the film itself. Like Renee Zellwegger in Judy, Tilda Cobham Hervey does a sterling job in attempting the challenge but for me neither captured enough of the spirit or physicality of the celebrity they were inhabiting. She may have won an Oscar and everything else, but Renee did not have the speaking voice or sufficient direction to rein in her tics.
For Tilda Cobham Hervey, the very defiant and grounded persona of Helen Reddy was not really captured, and the actress came across much less emphatically than the persona i was aware of growing up and watching Helen Reddy perform and speak in interviews. but Tilda gives a compelling performance nonetheless, but i didn't once think i was watching Helen Reddy.
The movie reduced Helen's rise to fame and her fame itself to fairly predictable scenes and only showcasing a couple of supporting characters - ably played here by Aussie actress made good internationally Danielle Macdonald; who played Rock Historian Lillian Roxon, and American Evan Peters who was spellbinding in 'American Animals' and here is the ambitious but ultimately flawed figure who managed and married the singer. The film seems more concerned about Helen's struggle between housewife and star than on her actual journey with fame and family - instead depicting record company execs all as caricatures and no reference to her family in Australia, or her period of stardom after I am Woman shot her into the stratosphere. The film jumps a decade with no real reason, and minimises the massive impact that Helen had on the pop charts as well as the Adult Contemporary chart in America, where she ruled that decade. The timing of the release of this, about 4 weeks before Helen Reddy died in September of 2020 makes for a poignant experience, but I was still disappointed with the results. Beautifully shot by Dion Beebe (Oscar winning Aussie DOP) but despite the huge commitment to the role by the leading actress, her physicality and voice were insufficient for this viewer to really be submerged in the film. It was a bit of 'join the dots' storytelling and signposting a crisis coming or an emotional beat, rather than letting us work it out for ourselves. I am glad though that it seems that Helen and her family got to see the final cut of the movie before she died. Helen knew that she mattered. This film may reaffirm that, but it could have been a whole lot better. Enjoyable but disappointing.
For Tilda Cobham Hervey, the very defiant and grounded persona of Helen Reddy was not really captured, and the actress came across much less emphatically than the persona i was aware of growing up and watching Helen Reddy perform and speak in interviews. but Tilda gives a compelling performance nonetheless, but i didn't once think i was watching Helen Reddy.
The movie reduced Helen's rise to fame and her fame itself to fairly predictable scenes and only showcasing a couple of supporting characters - ably played here by Aussie actress made good internationally Danielle Macdonald; who played Rock Historian Lillian Roxon, and American Evan Peters who was spellbinding in 'American Animals' and here is the ambitious but ultimately flawed figure who managed and married the singer. The film seems more concerned about Helen's struggle between housewife and star than on her actual journey with fame and family - instead depicting record company execs all as caricatures and no reference to her family in Australia, or her period of stardom after I am Woman shot her into the stratosphere. The film jumps a decade with no real reason, and minimises the massive impact that Helen had on the pop charts as well as the Adult Contemporary chart in America, where she ruled that decade. The timing of the release of this, about 4 weeks before Helen Reddy died in September of 2020 makes for a poignant experience, but I was still disappointed with the results. Beautifully shot by Dion Beebe (Oscar winning Aussie DOP) but despite the huge commitment to the role by the leading actress, her physicality and voice were insufficient for this viewer to really be submerged in the film. It was a bit of 'join the dots' storytelling and signposting a crisis coming or an emotional beat, rather than letting us work it out for ourselves. I am glad though that it seems that Helen and her family got to see the final cut of the movie before she died. Helen knew that she mattered. This film may reaffirm that, but it could have been a whole lot better. Enjoyable but disappointing.