Story
Documentary/Hybrid Her singing reduced opera buffs to tears. Of laughter. The American Florence Foster Jenkins was the “Queen of Discord” and is still rated the worst soprano in history. Armed with a hefty inheritance, the eccentric society queen of the 1920s declared herself to be a prima donna and went on to shriek and squeak her way through the great arias of operatic history. The paradox was that it was precisely the fact that she was unencumbered by talent that made her a star. In archive recordings, interviews with experts and reports from eye and ear witnesses, the film portrays the eccentric singer and brings her to life in dramatized sequences, where she is played by the real opera singer Joyce diDonato.
Director
Ralf Pleger (*1967) made a name for himself with music videos and portraits of artists. His documentary Wagnerwahn (2013) was nominated for an International Emmy.Info
The Florence Foster Jenkins Story
Hybrid
English
Hamburger Filmschau//FF2016
Germany
2016
93 min
OV with German subtitles
Ralf Pleger
Ralf Pleger
Joyce DiDonato, Adam Benzwi, Jan Rekeszus
Bernhard von Hülsen, Maria Willer
Christoph Valentien
Frank Tschöke
Daria Kornysheva
Tobias Cassau (ZDF), Markus Wicker (SRF)
Edition Salzgeber
Espresso Media
3B-Produktion GmbH
Maria Willer, 3B-Produktion GmbH: m.willer@3b-produktion.de