Movie review: Behind the Candelabra

Oh, how those eyes twinkled. Oh, how those ivories tinkled. And oh my, how that closet rattled.

michael douglas

MOVIE REVIEW: Oh, how those eyes twinkled. Oh, how those ivories tinkled. And oh my, how that closet rattled.

In Behind the Candelabra, the lid is belatedly lifted on the secret gay life of Liberace.

Throughout a long reign as the king of keyboard kitsch, Liberace went to extraordinary lengths to repudiate all accusations of homosexuality.

This is how it was only a generation ago: to be anything but heterosexual meant a career in the public eye could be over at any moment.

Liberace did the math, and denied all speculation. No one in history has profited more from simply keeping a straight face.

Despite a hilariously flamboyant persona that could be picked up on gaydar from Mars, Liberace swiftly sued anyone who hinted he might prefer the company of men.

As directed by Steven Soderbergh, Behind the Candelabra is not here to judge Liberace for his actions. No, this is both a bizarre love story, and a familiar tale of woe. Here is how Liberace finally met Mr Right, and where it all went so wrong.

The year is 1977. Liberace (Michael Douglas) is living it large in Las Vegas, performing two shows nightly as the highest-paid live entertainer in the world. One evening, a backstage visitor catches his roving eye.

Scott Thorson (Matt Damon) is a handsome, shy animal trainer. His past life has been kind of sad, and very sheltered. Scott is too wide-eyed to resist the razzle-dazzle of all things Liberace.

Adapted from a tell-all book by Thorson, the movie quickly embeds the viewer at the epicentre of an earthquake of a relationship.

Scott can barely hold his footing as Liberace's dysfunctionally distancing emotional state keeps cracking the ground beneath him.

A passion project by Liberace to remould his young lover represents a fall from which Scott will never recover. He agrees to plastic surgery to make him look more
Liberace-like. An addiction to weight-loss pills becomes an addiction to cocaine.

The downward spiral intensifies, and Liberace remains above it all, already casting around for Scott's replacement.

The grotesquely gripping performances of Douglas and Damon are the principal reasons to see Behind the Candelabra.

Both actors step inside their difficult roles with ease, revealing not only the unlovable, spiteful monsters that Liberace and Scott Thorson were fated to become, but also the loving, giving men they might have been.

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BEHIND THE CANDELABRA [M]
Rating: 3.5/5
Director: Steven Soderbergh (Magic Mike)
Starring: Michael Douglas, Matt Damon, Rob Lowe, Dan Aykroyd, Paul Reiser.
"What happened in Vegas didn't stay the distance"