Review: "Judy" Finds Pain in a Charismatic Performance

Scene from Judy (2019)

There's an old adage in show business: the show MUST go on. No matter what's happening around you, if you're feeling the least bit timid, a performer puts on a show and entertains the crowd who paid handsomely to see them. That is the familiar crux of director Rupert Goold's biopic Judy, which pits one of Hollywood's most famous and tragic careers into a sympathetic lens, trying to understand what kept her going. With drug addiction and family problems spiraling out of control like her wrecked hotel suite, the story finds her backstage in London, doing everything in her power to keep going on. For as much as this follows conventional paths of a music biopic, there's something to be said for Renee Zellwegger's brittle performance as Judy Garland, whose tearful demeanor makes the many musical numbers more triumphant and saves this. For as much as it leans too heavily on conventions, one can't deny that Garland was a performer until the end, leaving the audience wanting even more when she herself had nothing left to give. It's the tragedy of art, but also the reality of Hollywood's gross past when it came to how it treated its female talent. 

For the average viewer at home, Judy Garland was this bright and talented figure, whether it be her career-defining performance in The Wizard of Oz, or later in the Vincente Minnelli-directed musicals like Meet Me in St. Louis and later with the failed comeback A Star is Born. Without looking into her life, one could see a performer who stood the test of time and never lost that youthful energy to get up and perform. However, those with access to history books will quickly become discouraged by even her best moments, where The Wizard of Oz saw her being abused as a child by her older co-stars, pressuring her to be better than any juvenile had the right to be. There's always the sense that Garland was struggling to be accepted her entire life, in part because her life would feature an infamous divorce from Minnelli. All the while, she seemed at home on a stage, giving her all every time. Suddenly her pain disappeared, if just for four-minute interludes. Even then, the numbness could only hold for so long as she grew older, the reality of being as culturally relevant starting to fade and depression kicking in. 

That is where Judy decides to pick up. There is clearly a sympathetic eye towards what made Garland a phenomenal performer. Despite flashbacks to earlier times in her life, the film focuses on a moment six months before her death where everything collides. By some miracle, she still has fans willing to sell-out rooms in London, and there is that pressure to please. The only issue is that she isn't the young and vibrant Garland who could balance everything. Now she has to deal with a private life where she fears her children going into show business, where she lounges with her flamboyant friends who give in to her whims. She is at a crossroads between a cleaner life and the debauched one that she finds herself in. With that said, she finds herself being restricted from hotel suites and a reputation forming that maybe she can't do it anymore. 

In fact, that is the crux of the film's success. Zellwegger shows a woman backstage who seems on the verge of constant tears, shaking from the pressure of every decision she's made up to that point. She remembers her youth, where producers on the set of The Wizard of Oz ask her to act more mature, not even allowing her to eat cake on her birthday. It explains her self-effacing humor in the present, where she jokes about burying ex-husbands in a cake. There is something broken about her, and there is that sad feeling that she'll never recover. Those who know their history will realize how brutal these dark comments are, finding one of cinema's most joyful figures battered, her face clearly worn by the ravages of a life of being marginalized. It feels like it's all over for her. 

The only thing that shifts her is the thing that was drilled into her since being a child. She must perform for the audience and not let them see her scars. In one such scene, Garland is moments from taking the stage and is heard muttering to her assistant that she can't. At that moment, the viewer becomes nervous that this will be the tabloid-exploding moment where she's deemed a hot mess. Instead, it's a chance to break out into many of her hits, such as "The Trolley Song," where she sways with the familiar energy. Her joy and passion for the art form clearly are there. The worries that the lack of rehearsal would impact her work aren't there. She's just basking in a jubilant moment, making a room of people forget their troubles for an evening. 

One has to wonder why Judy focuses on Garland's life at this particular moment. Why focus on one of the greatest American performers of the 20th century at her worst? It could be that the real-life Garland already wrote the self-fulfilling prophecy of her career with A Star is Born. It could also be that it was the final flicker in a star that was about to fade for good. To general audiences, the idea of a celebrity spiraling out of control is nothing but bad times. However, that wasn't true for Garland. She still had a love for her career, even if there was a sense of desperation now in her flailing from hotel to hotel, waiting in a state of apathy with her head clearly recovering from the pills she took hours ago. However, it also works in a 2019 prism because the many flashbacks complement the idea that the industry wore her down with impossible demands. She was a tragic figure, and Judy wants to take a moment to talk seriously about a variety of things, including Garland's talent, addiction, and industry standards that needed to be changed.

For what it's worth, a lot of the work is done by Zellwegger in making this film work. The rest is there, but there's not an additional performance with as emotional complexity to make Garland's supporting players feel culpable in her life. The themes of industry standards are there, but they feel tacked on in ways that never culminate in a grand statement. This isn't a story that exploits Garland's downward spiral, though it also makes one wonder why this was the story that needed to be told about an incredible icon. Why not focus on her years making Meet Me in St. Louis? Give Garland a positive moment for her fans to celebrate. Life is more than tragedy. As much as it's inspiring to know that Garland was talented and never gave up on her gifts, it makes the lasting vision a super depressing one that does little to win over new fans. The only good it does is prove that the Me Too Movement is almost a century in the making, and Garland probably would've benefited from it being there. 

Judy is a by all accounts a good movie that finds Zellwegger giving a solid performance. When she is left to find the singer at her highest and lowest points, it captures certain magic. It's one of those performances that pay tribute to the art of putting a show on, no matter what life has thrown at you. It shows that for as happy as Garland's life was, she never let anyone know that the pressure was getting to her. It's a sad story and one that has impacted performers for decades in the industry. While it may fail to paint a full picture of what made her a phenomenal singer, it does plenty at creating a picture of someone overcoming abuse by letting her take the stage to perform. It's here that she's happiest and the troubles seem to disappear. For the viewers watching, there's the sad reality that the tears will start up once she exits stage right. By the end, the audience desires her to never leave but knows she has to. It's a tragic ending, but one that only clarifies why performers are human and need to be treated much better than they used to be.