The Renee-sance starts with stunning performance in Judy

Joaquin Phoenix is no longer alone at the front of the Oscars queue for his acting feats in Joker, a revived and relentless Renée Zellweger keeping him company with her vivid portrayal of erratic entertainer Judy Garland.

A compelling portrait of showbiz legend Judy Garland in an ever-darkening twilight of a once-glittering career, Judy certainly has problems when it comes to consistency.

However, the same cannot be said of a stunning portrayal of the erratic entertainer by a revived and relentless Renée Zellweger.

From the outset, Zellweger goes up, over the rainbow and then soars towards stratospheric heights of performance.

Not only channelling Garland’s mercurial combination of fragility and fury as a performer, but also her intense devotion to her children and an unfortunate dependence on the wrong men.

Zellweger channels Garland’s mercurial combination of fragility and fury as a performer. Picture: Universal

Just as Joaquin Phoenix currently stands at the front of the Oscars queue for his acting feats in Joker, he now has company from Zellweger for work of the same rare calibre.

The Renee-sance starts right here.

The bulk of the movie unfolds in the late 1960s, where Garland has taken on a punishing season at a London theatre so she can pay for a home for her kids back in Los Angeles.

Pills, booze, loneliness and self-doubt ghost Garland’s every move, with the seeming knowledge every show could be her last sometimes inspiring her, and just as often, conspiring against her.

In Zellweger’s assured hands, Garland’s dysfunctional relationship with her own craft comes alive in vivid fashion.

Judy as whole only works in parts but it saved by Zellweger’s performance.

In the period depicted here, for Garland to walk out on stage and belt out a tune meant many long hours off stage, beating herself up with her many and varied insecurities.

Zellweger gets this paradox exactly right, summoning a character that can be likened to a locomotive made entirely of crystal glass.

The sight of her in full flight is irresistible, but so too is the prospect Judy may crack and fall to pieces at any moment.

As for Zellweger’s vocal interpretations of choice selections from the Garland songbook, it is doubtful anyone will be disappointed by what they hear.

Again, Zellweger excels in the musical sequences, capturing that eerie, over-committing tendency of Garland that indicated whatever she was putting into a song was never going to come back to her in return.

Renée Zellweger’s portrayal of Garland is immaculate.

It must be said that as a whole movie, Judy only works in parts. The tone can get a bit tacky and the structure too flash-backy to truly impress for too long.

Nevertheless, Zellweger’s immaculate work saves the day repeatedly.

She has us believing that the show must go on, but also wondering why the show leaves so many behind.

JUDY (M)

Director: Rupert Goold (True Story)

Starring: Renée Zellweger, Jessie Buckley, Finn Wittrock, Rufus Sewell, Michael Gambon.

Rating: ***

The movie comes and goes, but Renee won’t walk away

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