Judy (film)

Judy is a 2019 biographical drama film based on the life of American actress Judy Garland. Directed by Rupert Goold, it is an adaptation of the Olivier- and Tony-nominated West End and Broadway play End of the Rainbow by Peter Quilter. The film stars Renée Zellweger as Garland, with Jessie Buckley, Finn Wittrock, Rufus Sewell, and Michael Gambon in supporting roles.

The film follows Garland’s career during the last year of her life, when she relocated her stage career to Britain, coupled with flashbacks of her teenage years, most prominently the filming of her part as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz, Garland’s most iconic role. After some initial success in a run of sell-out concerts at the Talk of the Town in London, her efforts eventually stop making progress and even start to worsen as her health deteriorates.

Judy premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on 30 August 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on 27 September 2019, and in the United Kingdom on 2 October 2019. It grossed $44 million worldwide and received generally positive reviews, with praise for Zellweger’s performance. For her portrayal of Garland, Zellweger won the Academy Award for Best Actress, as well as the Golden Globe Award, SAG Award, BAFTA Award and Critics’Choice Movie Award .

Plot

At the outset of the film, Judy Garland is 15 years old and is being told by MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) studio head, Louis B. Mayer, that she has a gift other girls do not. Judy’s talent at singing is nearly unmatched while she is able to surpass the success of Shirley Temple as a Hollywood child star. Judy is then shown in her forties, performing with her two children from her marriage to Sidney Luft, her third husband. Later, Judy and her children try to check into their hotel but are turned away for previous nonpayment. Because of this, Judy is forced to return home to Luft, who has since divorced her.

At a party, Judy meets Mickey Deans, a nightclub owner, and they become friends. In a flashback to her teenage years with Mickey Rooney, her studio minder interrupts a date to give Judy amphetamines to help control her appetite and thus keep her weight down. The action returns to 1968, with Judy seeing an agent who tells her that Britain is open to her, but that the US reception to her has cooled due to her performance unreliability and moodiness. Judy decides to embark for the UK, leaving her two children with Luft, which is difficult for her.

In the UK, substance abuse keeps her from performing reliably. Judy is late to her London première and assistants are called upon to check on her health and fix her make-up. The fans are enthusiastic and her performance is excellent. The film goes to another flashback to young Judy, who complains about being fed with pills to help her meet her schedule demands. Back in London in 1968, she is performing again and starts to sing the “Clang, clang, clang…” lyrics to “The Trolley Song” to loud applause.

Judy meets two adoring gay fans at the stage door on her way out and joins them for a late-night snack at their flat. They bond over their difficulties, and she sings “Get Happy” while one of the fans plays the piano. Deans comes to London on a surprise visit, which cheers her up. Judy still has trouble making her stage performances on time because of substance abuse and anxiety. Another flashback shows Mayer talking to her with Judy explaining that she is exhausted by her work schedule, and Mayer uses emotional abuse and physical intimidation to keep her in line.

Her sponsoring British agent has her examined by a voice specialist medical doctor. Judy says she had a tracheotomy two years ago, which weakened her voice. The doctor diagnoses physical and mental exhaustion, which requires rest for recovery. Her relationship with Deans is a support to her personal life, and they marry. He is her fifth husband. Judy still thinks about her children and suffers from being separated from them. The children, however, are happy in school in California. Deans has bad news about a money deal that fell through, which means she must stay in Britain in order to make ends meet. At her next performance, she passes out on stage and is heckled. Judy’s singing engagement is terminated but she returns for a last night on stage, where she asks to perform one last song. She breaks down while singing “Over the Rainbow” but recovers with the encouragement of supportive fans and is able to complete the performance. Judy asks, “You won’t forget me, will you?” to the audience, who applaud before she ends her performance by saying, “Promise you won’t”. The film’s ends that Judy died six months later, in the summer of 1969, at the age of 47.

Cast

Production

Principal photography began on 19 March 2018, in London. Filming locations included West London Film Studios. and Hackney Empire.

Release

Judy had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on 30 August 2019. It also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on 10 September 2019. The film was theatrically released in the United States on 27 September 2019, by Roadside Attractions and LD Entertainment, and in the United Kingdom on 2 October 2019, by 20th Century Fox, Pathé’s British Distributor.

Music

The soundtrack for the film was released on 28 September 2019 by Decca Records. It features twelve of Garland’s most popular tracks performed by Zellweger, including several that were featured in the movie, as well as duets with Sam Smith and Rufus Wainwright.

Reception

Box office

Judy grossed $24.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $18.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $43.2 million.

The film made $2.9 million in its opening weekend, from 461 theatres, finishing seventh at the box office; 60% of its audiences was female, while 79% were over the age of 35.It expanded to 1,458 theatres the following weekend and made $4.6 million, finishing sixth, before making $3.2 million in its third weekend, returning to seventh place.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 82% based on 327 reviews, with an average rating of 6.95/10. The website’s consensus reads, “Led by a deeply committed performance from Renée Zellweger, Judy captures the waning days of a beloved performer with clear-eyed compassion.” On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 66 out of 100, based on 46 critics, indicating “generally favorable reviews.” Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “A–” on an A+ to F scale.

Zellweger garnered much critical acclaim for her performance in the title role, with several critics labelling her a frontrunner to win the Academy Award for Best Actress, which she would later go on to win. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called Zellweger’s portrayal of Judy Garland “the performance of the year,” while Zoe Gahan of Vanity Fair wrote, “a stellar stage-stomping performance. It is hard to tell where Garland stops and Zellweger starts… Go and see this film. Laugh and weep, bawl your eyes out—she deserves every tear.” Eric Kohn of IndieWire gave the film a “C”, stating that “Zellweger inhabits the role of the jaded, soul-searching musical icon reasonably well within a dreary and unremarkable saga that finds her grappling with her past, contending with pill-popping addictions and a broken family. It’s a familiar story that Judy struggles to freshen up, at least until Zellweger takes the mic.”

Monica Castillo of RogerEbert.com gave the film two out of four stars; though she praised how the film contextualized Garland’s abusive childhood, she criticized Goold’s direction and Zellweger’s performance, stating that “there are spots in the movie where Zellweger’s affected manners become too distracting and overshadow everything else around her…. Try as she might, Zellweger’s Judy never goes beyond an impression of the multi-talented artist; her all-caps version of acting fails to allow the role to feel natural.”

Accolades

Award	Date of ceremony	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Ref.
AACTA Awards	3 January 2020	Best International Actress	Renée Zellweger	Nominated
AARP’s Movies For Grownups Awards	11 January 2020	Best Actress	Renée Zellweger	Won
		Best Time Capsule	Judy	Nominated
Academy Awards	9 February 2020	Best Actress	Renée Zellweger	Won
		Best Makeup and Hairstyling	Jeremy Woodhead	Nominated
British Academy Film Awards	2 February 2020	Best Actress in a Leading Role	Renée Zellweger	Won
		Best Costume Design	Jany Temime	Nominated
		Best Makeup and Hair	Jeremy Woodhead	Nominated
British Independent Film Awards	1 December 2019	Best Actress	Renée Zellweger	Won
		Best Cinematography	Ole Bratt Birkeland	Nominated
		Best Costume Design	Jany Temime	Nominated
		Best Make Up & Hair Design	Jeremy Woodhead	Won
		Best Production Design	Kave Quinn	Nominated
Casting Society of America	30 January 2020	Studio or Independent – Drama	Fiona Weir and Alice Searby	Nominated
Critics’ Choice Movie Awards	12 January 2020	Best Actress	Renée Zellweger	Won
		Best Hair and Makeup	Judy	Nominated
Detroit Film Critics Society	9 December 2019	Best Actress	Renée Zellweger	Nominated
		Breakthrough Performance	Jessie Buckley	Nominated
GLAAD Media Awards	19 March 2020	Outstanding Film – Wide Release	Judy	Nominated
Golden Globe Awards	5 January 2020	Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama	Renée Zellweger	Won
Grammy Awards	14 March 2021	Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album	Judy – Renée Zellweger	Nominated
Hollywood Critics Association	9 January 2020	Best Actress	Renée Zellweger	Nominated
		Best Hair and Makeup	Judy	Nominated
Hollywood Film Awards	3 November 2019	Hollywood Actress Award	Renée Zellweger	Won
Houston Film Critics Society	2 January 2020	Best Actress	Renée Zellweger	Won
Independent Spirit Awards	8 February 2020	Best Female Lead	Renée Zellweger	Won
London Film Critics Circle	30 January 2020	Actress of the Year	Renée Zellweger	Won
National Board of Review	8 January 2020	Top 10 Independent Films	Judy	Won
		Best Actress	Renée Zellweger	Won
Palm Springs International Film Festival	2 January 2020	Desert Palm Achievement Award	Renée Zellweger	Won
San Diego Film Critics Society	9 December 2019	Best Actress	Renée Zellweger	Runner-up
		Breakthrough Artist	Jessie Buckley	Nominated
Santa Barbara International Film Festival	16 January 2020	American Riviera Award	Renée Zellweger	Won
Satellite Awards	19 December 2019	Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama	Renée Zellweger	Nominated
		Best Costume Design	Jany Temime	Nominated
Screen Actors Guild Awards	19 January 2020	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role	Renée Zellweger	Won
St. Louis Film Critics Association	15 December 2019	Best Actress	Renée Zellweger	Nominated
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association	8 December 2019	Best Actress	Renée Zellweger	Nominated