There is something very touching about an audience whistling and clapping to drown out the laughter that could hurt her feelings. Those are my people right there.
I have to disagree. It's wrong to lie to people to entertain delusions. Especially if they're using money to entertain their delusions with. It will definitely break their heart in the moment, but at the same time, there's other things that they could be doing with that money that they may actually have a purpose with. The irony in this case is she was successful because she sucked so much...so I'm not really sure how to feel about that.
The audience will get it's message across. If you are not perfect, people still like you. Many people shine through eventho their technique maybe lagging. Sometimes it is what is in your heart more than your performance. I do love people, especially if they are able to dream and play with me. As Graceful Tarot would say l love you all very much. Thank you for highlighting my humble comment. 🧚♀️🧚♀️🧚♀️🧚♀️🧚♀️🧚♀️🧚♀️🧕🧕🧕🧕🧕👼👼👼👼👼🧞♀️🧞♀️🧞♀️🧞♀️🧞♀️🧝♀️🧝♀️🧝♀️🧝♀️🧝♀️🧝♀️🧜♀️🧜♀️🧜♀️🧜♀️👩🏫👩🏫👩🏫👩🏫👩🏫👩🏫👩🏭🙆♀️🙆♀️🙆♀️🙆♀️🙆♀️👩🦳👩🦳👩🦳👩🦳👩🦳🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠💔❤🧡💛💚💙💜🤎🖤🤍💔❤🧡💛💚💙💜🤎🖤🤍💔❤🧡💛💚💙💜🤎🖤🤍👉🤛👉🤛
“I love that Florence Foster Jenkins introduced into the world of music a sense of humor. She didn’t mean to do that, but she’s dead and it dosen’t matter” I also like how they had the one guy they interviewed listed as “A Witness of Florence’s Concerts” like they were a crime or something
It was horrible, the 'superior' audience making fun of her. This was during a time that classical music was being murdered by composers and players trying to force everyone to listen to junk like the 12 tone 'music' and other atrocities. In the 1960's, I mocked MODERN MUSIC not out of tune opera singers.
Looks very campy, being in her orbit must've been a hoot. Queen was a legend in her own head, and considering we're still talking about her she might have been right. :)
The Shoe Hat is a real vintage couture item. In 1937, Elsa Schiaparelli and Salvador Dali collaborated on a surreal clothing collection, including that hat.
Yeah it took me until the switch at 10:30 as well. I was like well she is better than I would be at opera (I have won medals for singing in estedfords) and I was like I don't mind her and then I was like OHHHH OH NO
@@emmaphant02 When I feel miserable or a bit down I'll put on my recording of Florence Jenkins. Within seconds I can't stop laughing, tears running down my face. I immediately feel better. Thank you Florence.❤️
My father was a part of the classical music scene in NYC in the 1940s. He studied voice, and was an accomplished keyboardist. He knew Florence. I have an album of 78 records of hers which he bought back then.
"I treasure the records because they make me smile" That's the spirit 😊👍 Edit: the set with the man poppies and Florence's huge butterfly hat is everything 😆
Just a thought... do you think Donald Trump is the Florence Foster Jenkins of our day? He’s got the money and wants to be president, and has no talent or experience? Just a thought.
Not to be that person, but what is your source for that? All I can find is speculation (including her Wikipedia page) that she may have had hearing loss due to syphilis and the "treatments" used back then. I can't find anything definitive.
She's a legitimate inspiration-as an opera student, her persistence and love for the art is so incredible. No, she wasn't a good singer but she was passionate and she worked hard-and that's half the battle won right there.
In highschool years back, there was a teacher who was learning how to sing opera. It was neat to hear her progress. I commented about her singing, I think I was saying something along the lines of, "Oh she's practising again" and then before I could finish and say, "her voice is getting stronger," the teacher whipped open the door and mockingly went, "HAW HAW HAW!!!" And then slammed the door shut. She assumed I was making fun of her. Nearly every time I hear opera, I'm reminded of that. I was a teen so I didn't finish saying what I had wanted to. Anyway...
She did have the greatest fan base during her lifetime. The fact that drowned out the laughter with cheers just shows how much they loved her. Bless her, she just wanted to make people happy and she did!
we have the same now - Ollie London who truly and genuinely believes he's the double of BTS' Park Jimin and who can sing as well as any Korean idol (he isn't even close on either belief). I do wonder at how people can be cruel enough to let these self delusions persist? I mean I kind of get it with Florence Foster Jenkins, she was hugely wealthy in a time when speaking out against such a person was a major nope......even if said wealthy person was making a fool of themselves (or perhaps they didn't because it was nice to see someone from the Elites being an idiot and narcissistic fool despite all their money and supposed 'breeding'). But for Ollie London that's not the case - we're now in the 21st C.; we're now in a time where letting someone being that idiotic and delusional unchecked is considered cruel; where money doesn't buy that element of 'oh well we can't possible tell them they suck!"- so why do people, especially friends and family, keep letting him make himself the butt of ridicule? Both Foster Jenkins and London were/are in need of psychiatric help - that kind of self aggrandizement is scary and needs to be treated......What if he thinks he can pull an 'Assassin's Creed' jump and takes a swan dive off St, Paul's Cathedral?
My only gripe with this documentary is the amount and length of pointless filler shots, because dear sweet mother of God, otherwise this is a phenomenal story.
Can any of us say we have friends or family that love us enough to support our dreams as full and completely as Florence had. Also when you have money your eccentric, crazy when you don't. I don't think she ever used her power to hurt anyone, other then those with perfect hearing, to be mean. Good role model, probably.
I love that they got Joyce DiDonato, famous mezzo-soprano, to play Ms. Jenkins and sing. It must have been funny for her to pretend to sing badly. 😂 Glad that people get to hear the beauty of Joyce's voice, in the bits of good singing. 👍
Meryl Streep can actually sing pretty well; she starred in musicals in high school. However, it's easier to be a good singer pretending to be bad than the reverse.
I was actually in shock till I got that that’s how she would hear herself singing. I couldn’t understand what was wrong with her singing till that telephone rang. 😂 Of course her actual rendition of the Queen Of The Night made it clear.
@@lughlamhfhada I believe she heard what she wanted to hear when she was singing. She knew how it was supposed to sound, and she believed that's how she was singing it. She certainly gave it all a valiant effort.
I find myself admiring her. For a woman of her time she had so much confidence and refusal to play by society's norms. Her lover had ears, he knew she couldn't sing but he probably loved how much she was her own person and never gave up. Was she deluded? Maybe, but it worked didn't it?
I'm confused as to what exactly her relationship was with her. She had syphilis from her first husband so it is unlikely that they were actually lovers. I assume he was around because of her money.
What an interesting life she had... I wonder if she actually lacked self awareness, or if she was secretly messing with the world all along 😁 she definitely had delusions of grandeur either way, but she doesn't sound like a bad person. Also, has anyone else noticed that the uncanny resemblance between the actress in this documentary, and Florence's actual living cousin??
I know, right? So perfect having one of the most acclaimed opera singers out there playing Florence. Magical. It actually takes a lot of skill to imitate someone singing so badly.
I don't get the negative comments. This is fabulous! She is tortuously, stupendously, self-unaware yet artistically brilliant. Study Andy Warhol's art, it walked the line between brilliance and complacency. So how do we translate the look, feeling, passion of a possibly mentally ill artist who died almost 80 years ago onto a video? I think they did a bang up job.
It is not negative to day that the encouragement of delusion and deception is a questionable position. Do you applaud politicians when they preen in their self-grandeur? When they see themselves as talented, important actors when the opposite is true?
@@douglasfreeman3229 I'm not an expert. I will say i think your comparing oranges and apples. From the almost facetious tone of your reply, I would think you were in jest, however on close inspection, I think not. This is too bad. A politician's job is inherently serious, a job for which one should be well versed in law, the constitution etc. A point I think you were making. Where your argument falls short is we are discussing art, not the very serious, often life and death nature of politics. Art is a vastly different arena in which, where often one find those who train diligently for years, then there are those incredible talents or even those demented weirdly, oddly mishaped wannabes celebrated simply for the expression of desire. As a book dealer i know of a number of photographers who would fit in that category.
The cars were moving at normal speed, but the footage was highly undercranked. To make the action appear much faster than it was in reality, the cameraman would turn the crank at a slower rate, using fewer frames per second. When played back at normal projection speed, the action is fast and jerky.
@@OofusTwillip I wasn't referring to the speed, it was more to the fact that there were no distinguishable lanes and folks were just walking around the street lmao
A marvel. Beautiful mixture of wonderful and awful music, beautiful and awful costumes, a sympathetic look at delusion, graceful movement between the sublime and the ridiculous. I want to see this a few more tims.
I collect autographs from stars of Classic Hollywood. I came across a Billie Burke, aka Glinda the good witch, autograph with the reverse signed by two people I’d never heard of. It didn’t matter anyway bc I got it for a great price. Anyway, imagine my surprise when I finally decided to look up the other signatures & it’s Florence and St Clare.
@@volvoxfraktalion5225 Yes! I was completely shocked. Obviously the autograph seller didn’t do much if any research about them. They just saw Billie Burke’s name on one side & that was enough for them to make some money off of it.
She wasn’t confident as much as delusional. A tone-deaf singer wannabe who financed her whims, unable to discern the difference between ppl laughing at her from laughing with her.
Love Florence Foster Jenkins! We should only be so brave & free🕊An artist full of joy & passion from the heart!💞 I applaud her loving pure innocent spirit👏🔥🌟
When my kids were babies, I used to sing to them, and thought I was pretty good. So I recorded myself. Oh boy, I sounded like F.F.J. That was 40 years ago. Since then, I sing for fun, not taking myself seriously. I admit, some days, I need a bucket to carry a tune. But I have fun anyway.
I love this attitude. People need to be able to sing in their home without fear of judgement. Just have the humility to get a skeptical critique if you try to profit from it.
I'm right there with you ... Babies seem to like my singing well enough, but my hearing is good so I know better than to sing to anyone old enough to talk. At work I would stand in the back and mouth the words to 'Happy Birthhday,' when necessary.
So you are saying it would be a good thing if we all followed self-delusional beliefs and encouraged deception? I'd bet that you wouldn't apply this principle to politicians, terrorists and people like Jeffrey Dahmer, right?
Foster Jenkins ability to dismiss laughter in the audience did have some basis in fact. Many great sopranos have had hecklers in their audiences who whistle or jeer their own favourite’s enemy. For example the Callas/ Tebaldi rivalry was well known for its overly animated audiences, so one of Florence’s camp could easily have dismissed an audiences reaction to her performance in this way to protect her ego. 🤔
I remember from the long ago watching Captain Kangaroo and his sometime puppet guest the stunningly awful operatic Miss Worm, who fancied herself a great star. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Miss Worm was probably inspired by real life
Hey when you need a hat, can't find your hat, create a hat with what you have. At that time women wore all kinds of weird things on their heads. Real birds nests, fur stole with the heads of the animal left on.
I worked with a person who was like this for a while, it's fascinating. At the same time I felt bad for her, because people would make fun of her constantly, I kind of envied her because it all just went right past her, nothing ever came even as close to rocking her self confidence. She was just so sure of herself that it really didn't matter what others thought, she would just dismiss any kind of critic as envy and go on with her life. Amazing to watch, but also a little cringey.
According to the movie with Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant, her 1st husband "gave" her syphilis at a very young age and at that time it was treated with mercury on the long term, so i assume the disease for such long years+ the mercury it is a recipe for mental illness for sure.
@@Didi-m9b I didn't know about the movie before watching this, but definitely going to! But according to the video, she'd always wanted to be a singer. If the syphilis bit is true, I guess it would only have something to do with her perception of her own voice maybe? Either way, what I find fascinating about these personalities is the fact that their own perception of themselves has no influence of the outside world whatsoever. Although Florence was upset with the newspaper critics, whereas the girl I worked with would definetely have dismissed those as jealous and envious people lol
No, she really was that delusional, and everyone enabled her, instead of telling her the truth. The shock of being confronted with the truth, so publicly, completely destroyed her.
@@OofusTwillip and how do you know? By someone reconstruction of her running to the phone? They didn't really found any her diary or private letter saying she's devastated or surprised
@@OofusTwillip That's not true, I'm pretty sure you got that idea from the inaccurate and dramatisized Hollywood movie. The only source I can find for that claim is on the Wikipedia page which links to an article saying her being devastated and dying from a 'broken heart' is actually just a legend. She had a non-fatal heart attack while on a shopping trip 5 days after the concert. And she died a whole month after the concert, in her own home, at the old age of 76. (Her father died at 72 and mother at 79 so this is normal age of death for her family.) She did famously say to a friend a long time before that concert, "They may say I can't sing but they can't say I didn't sing." So she did actually appear to be self aware.
Yes, let's all forget our problems by encouraging other people's problems. She wasn't a stand-up comic, she was delusional. Can you not tell the effing difference? Jeez.
So very interesting. I can't help but be in awe of this woman that lived her life in her way. And Joyce... Good lord can she sing beautifully! Great documentary to watch.
If you can't sing, are as ugly as your avatar and aren't comely or confident, you will have to do as Gloria Estefan or Thalia or the wife of Tony Mottola and marry a producer. And prepare to be changed from the head down.
Waiting for the story to START. They tell snippets ABOUT HER but ever introduce the character , her background ect. I understand what they tried to do style wise but was frustrating to me because it’s a plum of a good story .
she belonged to an era in which the singer was more important than the music, at least for the audience. opera was more of a social event than a musical experience. not so today.
My favorite history singer! I cant tell you how many friends I have told to look her up. And I always know if they do because there is always a follow up conversation lol
......In a way, this video takes me back to the Fifties and the small town where I spent most of my teens......There were two theaters downtown and they would occasionally put a real zero on the program, and word would get around among the teenage boys of the area, and these movies would become box office smash hits.......The reason was that some of us would go and watch these artistic nightmares more than once....The boys in our band of lovers of unintended comedy would have an absolute riot, sitting in the audience and throwing insults and one liners at the screens hammy dialogue and wacky action.....We boys could fill a lot of seats in a theater that by rights should have been nearly empty, and we were having the time of our lives......Many of the shouted out comments were VERY funny, and showed skills with words that were almost professional.....The highlight of those few years was the night that a double bill of Hall of Fame stinkers was presented for our belittlement and derision called "The Lawless Rider" and "The White Stallion".........We all laughed and smiled til our faces were sore and I'll never forget the pleasure......I went twice, and some guys went three times.
She was a rich, obsessive, delusional, narcissist with absolutely no sense of self-awareness. That seems so familiar...like 98 percent of the "celebrities" and stars on Twitter.
Well most classical musicians i see are great. You mean pop music? Rappers? Most are either with drugs or with violence. Rapcommandos for affricans is a army command.
My grandmother was similar to this. She loved singing but was absolutely pitch deaf. She did recognize that other people heard her differently though... Christmas was difficult because that was the one time of year she would insist on singing no mater how much we begged her to stop... interestingly most of her descendents became good musicians, so she passed on her love of music... Though NONE of them were singers.
I bet those guys wearing the headphones were grateful. :: Can't believe that Gregor Benko was holding a record with his fingers - always by the edge and the label.
My oldest daughter sang soooo loud and out of tune, my sons would beg her to stop. I actually loved it, because she was joyous. I lost her in 2017, and would give anything to hear her sing...
At a young age, she performed a piano recital at the White House...she was quite good. Singing - not so much. But she gave performances during the 1920s, 1930s, and early 1940s...
I was learning those arias when there was only Emule and I wanted to hear what they sounded like, before youtube existed you didn’t know what you were downloading until you checked it. I accidentally downloaded her and I laughed my little butt off for months! 😂
Loved the documentary, she was living her dream. I actually know someone in NYC, who has lead exactly the same carrier. has even tour the UK, Please look her up , her name is Margarita Pracatan.
I remember seeing a small clip of the film and saying to myself I'm going to research more about this woman, but never did. Glad to see it in my recommended
Yes. Let's all go forward in our delusions and what a marvellous world we would live in. A big hand for all the confident delusional people. Just what the world needs: More deception.
I found this to be a very thoughtful and ultimately, respectful summation of Florence Foster Jenkins. She was definitely more than a voice that could peel paint, and this video shows why.
A similar story, in part, to the Beales of Grey Gardens (Big Edie & Little Edie). Wanting to be singers but women of wealthier classes were prevented by husband or father from pursuing performing careers because it "wasn't the done thing"; strutting around on the stage was beneath them. Never mind the fact that neither of them had anything like true talent but, they had the money to keep sycophants around to feed their delusions. Sweet, charming, without guile, and generous to a fault sometimes, but also gullible at times. Sad.
No one knows what she really thought. She may well have been completely ironic. Even her bragging might have been her personal joke. Also, it should be taken into account that her recordings and her performances were all made when she was quite old for any singer.
Anyone else having trouble focusing on words coming out of the mouth of someone with an upside down shoe on her head? Otherwise, this doc is visually spectacularly well done.
I have a love of listening to her sing, even though it's horrible. I think it's beautiful that she just had such a love for music & she was willing to do what she needed to achieve her dream. You can still hear the passion in each note & I hate that people around her (as portrayed by the documentary) just seem to hate on her. I think she's so interesting & wonderful!
The cinematography is a visual feast! The dreamy blur between reality and delusion was so well portrayed. I and all other trans women can relate to the beauty we aspire to and the dreary reality of our image to others.
It took me 37 mins when finally realised that headpiece is a shoe, haha. Joyce diDonato is an excellent opera singer, I didn’t know her, thanks for giving her Jenkins’ role in this film. Only a professional singer would be able to sing such ‘untalentedly ‘ as Florence did. Btw how many self proclaimed talents are in the world nowadays with millions of admirers,followers earning millions who are worse performers than Florence was.🤔 She didn’t cause any harm to the world just coloured it. I wonder how the pieces would have chosen to be performed, whether she’d had any concept...
![[Live สด] การออกรางวัลสลากกินแบ่งรัฐบาล งวดวันที่ 16 พฤศจิกายน 2567](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/wPd7VFfWHIA/mqdefault.jpg)
There is something very touching about an audience whistling and clapping to drown out the laughter that could hurt her feelings.
Those are my people right there.
I have to disagree. It's wrong to lie to people to entertain delusions. Especially if they're using money to entertain their delusions with. It will definitely break their heart in the moment, but at the same time, there's other things that they could be doing with that money that they may actually have a purpose with. The irony in this case is she was successful because she sucked so much...so I'm not really sure how to feel about that.
@@kristinj3339 I wouldn't equate being gracious with lying.
Mine too. That’s very kind of them.
The audience will get it's message across. If you are not perfect, people still like you. Many people shine through eventho their technique maybe lagging. Sometimes it is what is in your heart more than your performance. I do love people, especially if they are able to dream and play with me. As Graceful Tarot would say l love you all very much. Thank you for highlighting my humble comment. 🧚♀️🧚♀️🧚♀️🧚♀️🧚♀️🧚♀️🧚♀️🧕🧕🧕🧕🧕👼👼👼👼👼🧞♀️🧞♀️🧞♀️🧞♀️🧞♀️🧝♀️🧝♀️🧝♀️🧝♀️🧝♀️🧝♀️🧜♀️🧜♀️🧜♀️🧜♀️👩🏫👩🏫👩🏫👩🏫👩🏫👩🏫👩🏭🙆♀️🙆♀️🙆♀️🙆♀️🙆♀️👩🦳👩🦳👩🦳👩🦳👩🦳🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠💔❤🧡💛💚💙💜🤎🖤🤍💔❤🧡💛💚💙💜🤎🖤🤍💔❤🧡💛💚💙💜🤎🖤🤍👉🤛👉🤛
@@kathysemrau2301 Thank you too.
My ears are bleeding, yet I can’t stop watching. Fascinating.
“I love that Florence Foster Jenkins introduced into the world of music a sense of humor. She didn’t mean to do that, but she’s dead and it dosen’t matter”
I also like how they had the one guy they interviewed listed as “A Witness of Florence’s Concerts” like they were a crime or something
It was horrible, the 'superior' audience making fun of her. This was during a time that classical music was being murdered by composers and players trying to force everyone to listen to junk like the 12 tone 'music' and other atrocities. In the 1960's, I mocked MODERN MUSIC not out of tune opera singers.
Looks very campy, being in her orbit must've been a hoot. Queen was a legend in her own head, and considering we're still talking about her she might have been right. :)
Agreed! 😊
😂😂😂😂😂😂cannot speak !!!!,!
I guess you could apply that principle to Jack the Ripper, Jeffrey Dahmer and Peter Sutcliffe. Among many others.
Being in her orbit would have been a hoot! I would have been a fan because I love it
She was a legend period. People absolutely loved her and loved her sold out shows. Just because we carry on doesn't mean they did.
The Shoe Hat is a real vintage couture item. In 1937, Elsa Schiaparelli and Salvador Dali collaborated on a surreal clothing collection, including that hat.
and of course, it also echoes the movie "Brazil"
I want that hat
Werner Herzog once ate a shoe.
I commented on that hat, being an artist and designer that blew my mind 🤔😂🤣
@@lowrider81hd classic movie, loved that one!
I was going to say that she sounded pretty good...and then I realized that they were portraying the way she perceived herself
Yeah it took me until the switch at 10:30 as well. I was like well she is better than I would be at opera (I have won medals for singing in estedfords) and I was like I don't mind her and then I was like OHHHH OH NO
@@emmaphant02 When I feel miserable or a bit down I'll put on my recording of Florence Jenkins. Within seconds I can't stop laughing, tears running down my face. I immediately feel better. Thank you Florence.❤️
Haha me too
omg me too
Me too! I was thinking why are they making fun of that, it’s not that bad! Ha ha ha, jokes on me!
My father was a part of the classical music scene in NYC in the 1940s. He studied voice, and was an accomplished keyboardist. He knew Florence. I have an album of 78 records of hers which he bought back then.
it's midnight better go to bed
youtube: wanna watch a documentary about an old woman that cant sing?
me: I mean.....yeah
4 a.m. here. Same.
Yep. So tired. But can’t stop.
After all she's barely human. She's just an old woman that can't sing. I love how some people act like they're more valid.
@@MalteseKat that's heavy.
Ahaha exactly
"I treasure the records because they make me smile" That's the spirit 😊👍
Edit: the set with the man poppies and Florence's huge butterfly hat is everything 😆
I would wear that hat!
Just a thought... do you think Donald Trump is the Florence Foster Jenkins of our day? He’s got the money and wants to be president, and has no talent or experience? Just a thought.
Oops... at this point (coronavirus), he doesn’t make me smile....
I see a video of David Bowie speaking of his record collection ... which included albums of this lady. He was laughing all the while.
"People will say that I couldn't sing -- but they can't say that I didn't."----FFJ
She was nearly deaf. I sure wouldn't sound good if I was deaf and could sing. Awesome lady!
Not to be that person, but what is your source for that? All I can find is speculation (including her Wikipedia page) that she may have had hearing loss due to syphilis and the "treatments" used back then. I can't find anything definitive.
But she couldn't sing...
Wow!!! everyone was so nice they didn't blatantly laugh at her. Incredible!!! The media would eat her alive today
That because today she'd have autotune and it'd all be alright
@@cassandraleighr Auto tune doesn't cure syphilis!
I shutter to think what Twitter would do
Does anyone remember Tiny Tim or Wild Man Fischer?
Wing became a star of sorts for a while (got a South Park episode in her honour)
She's a legitimate inspiration-as an opera student, her persistence and love for the art is so incredible. No, she wasn't a good singer but she was passionate and she worked hard-and that's half the battle won right there.
In highschool years back, there was a teacher who was learning how to sing opera. It was neat to hear her progress. I commented about her singing, I think I was saying something along the lines of, "Oh she's practising again" and then before I could finish and say, "her voice is getting stronger," the teacher whipped open the door and mockingly went, "HAW HAW HAW!!!" And then slammed the door shut. She assumed I was making fun of her. Nearly every time I hear opera, I'm reminded of that. I was a teen so I didn't finish saying what I had wanted to. Anyway...
No it’s not !
You okay?
So, you are okay with self-deception then?
Who made this documentary about me singing in my car?
I loved the recreation fantasy scenes ... amazing how they got an actual opera singer to do the recreations! She’s amazing
She did have the greatest fan base during her lifetime. The fact that drowned out the laughter with cheers just shows how much they loved her. Bless her, she just wanted to make people happy and she did!
The lack of self awareness is outstanding
It's the Dunning-Kruger Effect. Talentless people don't know they're talentless. See: Amanda McKitterick Ros.
Several times he made disparaging remarks about looks and called her ugly. He is ugly.
we have the same now - Ollie London who truly and genuinely believes he's the double of BTS' Park Jimin and who can sing as well as any Korean idol (he isn't even close on either belief). I do wonder at how people can be cruel enough to let these self delusions persist? I mean I kind of get it with Florence Foster Jenkins, she was hugely wealthy in a time when speaking out against such a person was a major nope......even if said wealthy person was making a fool of themselves (or perhaps they didn't because it was nice to see someone from the Elites being an idiot and narcissistic fool despite all their money and supposed 'breeding'). But for Ollie London that's not the case - we're now in the 21st C.; we're now in a time where letting someone being that idiotic and delusional unchecked is considered cruel; where money doesn't buy that element of 'oh well we can't possible tell them they suck!"- so why do people, especially friends and family, keep letting him make himself the butt of ridicule? Both Foster Jenkins and London were/are in need of psychiatric help - that kind of self aggrandizement is scary and needs to be treated......What if he thinks he can pull an 'Assassin's Creed' jump and takes a swan dive off St, Paul's Cathedral?
whatever .... i think it took a lot of gonads to do what she did whether she was a loon or not ...
Yet very familiar
I really liked the movie about her where Merryl Streep portrayed her
I never heard of it!
Meryl Streep is fabulous!
@@melanietoth1376 yes I forgot the name of it. It was a funny one
I gotta see that! Never heard of it
@@jamieyoho2310 its called just like that - Florence Foster Jenkins
My only gripe with this documentary is the amount and length of pointless filler shots, because dear sweet mother of God, otherwise this is a phenomenal story.
oh i loved it .... really awesome production
Alidia Smoot I was waiting for it to actually start telling the story
Definitely. It could've easily been a 1hour doco and not lost anything.
I loved the interludes, the woman they got to play her was phenomenal. Plus you KNOW they had a blast with all those costumes and songs!
Agreed...Is this a documentary or a performance art video or some only minimally successful combination of both?
Can any of us say we have friends or family that love us enough to support our dreams as full and completely as Florence had. Also when you have money your eccentric, crazy when you don't. I don't think she ever used her power to hurt anyone, other then those with perfect hearing, to be mean. Good role model, probably.
Eh she used it to control people with submissive personalities, wouldn't call that a role model
And she became a legend in her own time... that's pretty cool, isn't it?
@@atreyu4ws I don't think she meant to, deliberately. She was a very generous and charitable person, from all accounts.
@@sarahhearn-vonfoerster7401 Not meaning to emotionally abuse people doesn't make it okay.
@@atreyu4ws Not at all💯
I love that they got Joyce DiDonato, famous mezzo-soprano, to play Ms. Jenkins and sing. It must have been funny for her to pretend to sing badly. 😂 Glad that people get to hear the beauty of Joyce's voice, in the bits of good singing. 👍
Meryl Streep can actually sing pretty well; she starred in musicals in high school. However, it's easier to be a good singer pretending to be bad than the reverse.
This is my first time hearing of Joyce, and I'm mesmerized, her voice is incredible!!!💖💖💖
@@josi4251 Streep was studying to sing opera while getting a Fine Arts degree.
I was actually in shock till I got that that’s how she would hear herself singing. I couldn’t understand what was wrong with her singing till that telephone rang. 😂 Of course her actual rendition of the Queen Of The Night made it clear.
@@lughlamhfhada I believe she heard what she wanted to hear when she was singing. She knew how it was supposed to sound, and she believed that's how she was singing it. She certainly gave it all a valiant effort.
I find myself admiring her. For a woman of her time she had so much confidence and refusal to play by society's norms. Her lover had ears, he knew she couldn't sing but he probably loved how much she was her own person and never gave up. Was she deluded? Maybe, but it worked didn't it?
Florence didn't give no fucks. She went out and became a famous opera singer, you can't deny her results. She was the Tommy Weisau of the opera world.
She's honestly iconic
I'm confused as to what exactly her relationship was with her. She had syphilis from her first husband so it is unlikely that they were actually lovers. I assume he was around because of her money.
@@marniekilbourne608 one can be a lover without sex though.
What an interesting life she had... I wonder if she actually lacked self awareness, or if she was secretly messing with the world all along 😁 she definitely had delusions of grandeur either way, but she doesn't sound like a bad person.
Also, has anyone else noticed that the uncanny resemblance between the actress in this documentary, and Florence's actual living cousin??
She reminded me of Hyacinth Bouquet.
❤️❤️❤️
Bucket
YES. 😄
I was wondering if she was the inspiration for Hyacinth.
So we're not gonna mention how hilarious it is to see Joyce DiDonato playing Florence Foster Jenkins!?!? She killed it lmao
She's got a fabulous voice!
Who dat
It must of been hard for her to sing badly.
I know, right? So perfect having one of the most acclaimed opera singers out there playing Florence. Magical. It actually takes a lot of skill to imitate someone singing so badly.
@@Bunny-ch2ul A great singer and actress. Did you see her in the Met's Agrippina? Stunning!
Next time I start singing in public with my heart, I’ll say I’m a Florence Foster Jenkins pupil
Yeah, me too. In fact, we should create a music conservatory with her name.
@@junecooper good idea 💡 😆
I don't get the negative comments. This is fabulous! She is tortuously, stupendously, self-unaware yet artistically brilliant. Study Andy Warhol's art, it walked the line between brilliance and complacency. So how do we translate the look, feeling, passion of a possibly mentally ill artist who died almost 80 years ago onto a video? I think they did a bang up job.
Exactly right. ❤️
It is not negative to day that the encouragement of delusion and deception is a questionable position. Do you applaud politicians when they preen in their self-grandeur? When they see themselves as talented, important actors when the opposite is true?
@@douglasfreeman3229 I'm not an expert. I will say i think your comparing oranges and apples. From the almost facetious tone of your reply, I would think you were in jest, however on close inspection, I think not. This is too bad. A politician's job is inherently serious, a job for which one should be well versed in law, the constitution etc. A point I think you were making. Where your argument falls short is we are discussing art, not the very serious, often life and death nature of politics. Art is a vastly different arena in which, where often one find those who train diligently for years, then there are those incredible talents or even those demented weirdly, oddly mishaped wannabes celebrated simply for the expression of desire. As a book dealer i know of a number of photographers who would fit in that category.
The production quality of this documentary is great. And a big shout-out to Joyce DiDonato for a superb portrayal.
Damn, the narrator's voice is rich. Loving it!
Tbh she is rocking that shoe on her head
It took me longer than I'd like to admit to realize she had a shoe on her head.
What shoe?
@@anorcia3130 her green/black hat is a Schiaparelli/Dali design from 1937.
Watching that dash-cam footage of someone driving around in the 20's was horrifying 🤣
The cars were moving at normal speed, but the footage was highly undercranked. To make the action appear much faster than it was in reality, the cameraman would turn the crank at a slower rate, using fewer frames per second. When played back at normal projection speed, the action is fast and jerky.
@@OofusTwillip I wasn't referring to the speed, it was more to the fact that there were no distinguishable lanes and folks were just walking around the street lmao
Was not a car lol
A marvel. Beautiful mixture of wonderful and awful music, beautiful and awful costumes, a sympathetic look at delusion, graceful movement between the sublime and the ridiculous. I want to see this a few more tims.
I collect autographs from stars of Classic Hollywood. I came across a Billie Burke, aka Glinda the good witch, autograph with the reverse signed by two people I’d never heard of. It didn’t matter anyway bc I got it for a great price. Anyway, imagine my surprise when I finally decided to look up the other signatures & it’s Florence and St Clare.
What, really? Awesome
@@volvoxfraktalion5225 Yes! I was completely shocked. Obviously the autograph seller didn’t do much if any research about them. They just saw Billie Burke’s name on one side & that was enough for them to make some money off of it.
That's so cool!
I recommend movie about Florence with Merryl Streep - it’s really something!
And "Wolowitz" (from "Big Bang Theory") gets to use his real-life concert-pianist skills as Cosme McMoon, Florence's accompanist.
Hugh Grant stole that movie. He was great.
Meryl
Joyce Didonato is a classical operatic superstar, she did more than due justice to this role. Bravo! 👏 👏 👏
I need the confidence that Florence possessed. A true queen❤️👸🏻
YES! 👏👏👏
If only I had half the confidence she had..
True fact's... I commend her highly
She wasn’t confident as much as delusional. A tone-deaf singer wannabe who financed her whims, unable to discern the difference between ppl laughing at her from laughing with her.
She had confidence in a delusion. You are inspired by that? Do you realize what you are saying about yourself?
The driving scene is terrifying. There must have been an accident every 30 seconds.
Brava, Joyce DiDonata. That must have been tough!
My music teacher once told me, you really need to know the music well in order to pretend to sing it badly.
Garoosh True!
This is a very well done campy film about an extraordinary woman. The interviews were great.
Love Florence Foster Jenkins! We should only be so brave & free🕊An artist full of joy & passion from the heart!💞
I applaud her loving pure innocent spirit👏🔥🌟
When my kids were babies, I used to sing to them, and thought I was pretty good. So I recorded myself. Oh boy, I sounded like F.F.J. That was 40 years ago.
Since then, I sing for fun, not taking myself seriously. I admit, some days, I need a bucket to carry a tune. But I have fun anyway.
Amethyst Anne ha ha love it good for you 😁
I found out about my singing ability the hard way too.
@@juansierralonche9864 .... oh my, that is a depressing realization .
I love this attitude. People need to be able to sing in their home without fear of judgement. Just have the humility to get a skeptical critique if you try to profit from it.
I'm right there with you ...
Babies seem to like my singing well enough, but my hearing is good so I know better than to sing to anyone old enough to talk.
At work I would stand in the back and mouth the words to 'Happy Birthhday,' when necessary.
As soon as the first strains of 'Ah, Mio Cor' came on at 46:27, I was like "Oh no.", and then Joyce DiDonato started singing and I just lost it.
Hey, she followed her bliss. It would be nice if we could all do that.
So you are saying it would be a good thing if we all followed self-delusional beliefs and encouraged deception? I'd bet that you wouldn't apply this principle to politicians, terrorists and people like Jeffrey Dahmer, right?
Foster Jenkins ability to dismiss laughter in the audience did have some basis in fact. Many great sopranos have had hecklers in their audiences who whistle or jeer their own favourite’s enemy. For example the Callas/ Tebaldi rivalry was well known for its overly animated audiences, so one of Florence’s camp could easily have dismissed an audiences reaction to her performance in this way to protect her ego. 🤔
Brilliant reenactment of her singing, loved it sooo so much. Thank you
I remember from the long ago watching Captain Kangaroo and his sometime puppet guest the stunningly awful operatic Miss Worm, who fancied herself a great star. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Miss Worm was probably inspired by real life
She had a shoe on her head 😂
LMFAO I see it now
Thought it was a methophor until I saw that there was, indeed, a shoe on her head. 😂😂😂
Hey when you need a hat, can't find your hat, create a hat with what you have. At that time women wore all kinds of weird things on their heads. Real birds nests, fur stole with the heads of the animal left on.
I was wondering if anyone else had noticed this 😂
its an elsa schiaparelli collaboration with salvador dali
I worked with a person who was like this for a while, it's fascinating. At the same time I felt bad for her, because people would make fun of her constantly, I kind of envied her because it all just went right past her, nothing ever came even as close to rocking her self confidence. She was just so sure of herself that it really didn't matter what others thought, she would just dismiss any kind of critic as envy and go on with her life. Amazing to watch, but also a little cringey.
According to the movie with Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant, her 1st husband "gave" her syphilis at a very young age and at that time it was treated with mercury on the long term, so i assume the disease for such long years+ the mercury it is a recipe for mental illness for sure.
@@Didi-m9b I didn't know about the movie before watching this, but definitely going to! But according to the video, she'd always wanted to be a singer. If the syphilis bit is true, I guess it would only have something to do with her perception of her own voice maybe? Either way, what I find fascinating about these personalities is the fact that their own perception of themselves has no influence of the outside world whatsoever. Although Florence was upset with the newspaper critics, whereas the girl I worked with would definetely have dismissed those as jealous and envious people lol
@@Didi-m9b Bad for hearing, too.
wow! she must have been the yoko ono of her day!
Better built.
Reminds me more of the Tommy Wiseau story.
Lol nooo I can actually listen to her bad singing but I cannot even listen to Yoko’s songs for longer than 5 seconds 🤣
What if she was just a troll n made everyone believe that she's serious 🤣
No, she really was that delusional, and everyone enabled her, instead of telling her the truth. The shock of being confronted with the truth, so publicly, completely destroyed her.
@@OofusTwillip and how do you know? By someone reconstruction of her running to the phone? They didn't really found any her diary or private letter saying she's devastated or surprised
OMG that shoe on her head says it all, talk about ‘ if the shoe fits ‘ it certainly fits her persona !
@@OofusTwillip That's not true, I'm pretty sure you got that idea from the inaccurate and dramatisized Hollywood movie.
The only source I can find for that claim is on the Wikipedia page which links to an article saying her being devastated and dying from a 'broken heart' is actually just a legend.
She had a non-fatal heart attack while on a shopping trip 5 days after the concert. And she died a whole month after the concert, in her own home, at the old age of 76. (Her father died at 72 and mother at 79 so this is normal age of death for her family.)
She did famously say to a friend a long time before that concert, "They may say I can't sing but they can't say I didn't sing." So she did actually appear to be self aware.
Probably one of the earliest cases of "It's so bad it's good" entertainment, I see.
No. Just bad.
I once had the misfortune of listing to a record of Florence Foster Jenkins. How awful.
😂😂😂
If her music made people laugh who cares they forgot their problems if only for a little while.
Yes, let's all forget our problems by encouraging other people's problems. She wasn't a stand-up comic, she was delusional. Can you not tell the effing difference? Jeez.
So very interesting. I can't help but be in awe of this woman that lived her life in her way. And Joyce... Good lord can she sing beautifully! Great documentary to watch.
I totally sound like her. Lol
Can someone give me a breakthrough to fame?😂
Me too! Can't sing, but love to sing. Lol
If you can't sing, are as ugly as your avatar and aren't comely or confident, you will have to do as Gloria Estefan or Thalia or the wife of Tony Mottola and marry a producer. And prepare to be changed from the head down.
How much money have you got?
@@LathropLdST Didn't know I was that ugly lol. Atleast I have my face as my avatar 🤭
@@theoperazone3862 Sadly I'm a poor lassie from the Philippines :
Fantastic documentary, extremely well done.
I think we find humor in this because we all, to some degree, think that we are really good at something, when we are not 🌝
Waiting for the story to START. They tell snippets ABOUT HER but ever introduce the character , her background ect. I understand what they tried to do style wise but was frustrating to me because it’s a plum of a good story .
she belonged to an era in which the singer was more important than the music, at least for the audience. opera was more of a social event than a musical experience. not so today.
My favorite history singer! I cant tell you how many friends I have told to look her up. And I always know if they do because there is always a follow up conversation lol
......In a way, this video takes me back to the Fifties and the small town where I spent most of my teens......There were two theaters downtown and they would occasionally put a real zero on the program, and word would get around among the teenage boys of the area, and these movies would become box office smash hits.......The reason was that some of us would go and watch these artistic nightmares more than once....The boys in our band of lovers of unintended comedy would have an absolute riot, sitting in the audience and throwing insults and one liners at the screens hammy dialogue and wacky action.....We boys could fill a lot of seats in a theater that by rights should have been nearly empty, and we were having the time of our lives......Many of the shouted out comments were VERY funny, and showed skills with words that were almost professional.....The highlight of those few years was the night that a double bill of Hall of Fame stinkers was presented for our belittlement and derision called "The Lawless Rider" and "The White Stallion".........We all laughed and smiled til our faces were sore and I'll never forget the pleasure......I went twice, and some guys went three times.
The personification of "fake it 'til you make it" 🤣
We talked about Florence Foster Jenkins in school in music class xd
She was a rich, obsessive, delusional, narcissist with absolutely no sense of self-awareness. That seems so familiar...like 98 percent of the "celebrities" and stars on Twitter.
Well most classical musicians i see are great.
You mean pop music?
Rappers?
Most are either with drugs or with violence.
Rapcommandos for affricans is a army command.
Yes. And most of the commentators here believe this to be a good thing. No wonder the world is constantly in a pickle.
@@tropicalstrings You are a terrible snob.
When I saw that she was wearing a shoe on her head I knew I had to learn about this woman lol
My grandmother was similar to this. She loved singing but was absolutely pitch deaf. She did recognize that other people heard her differently though... Christmas was difficult because that was the one time of year she would insist on singing no mater how much we begged her to stop... interestingly most of her descendents became good musicians, so she passed on her love of music... Though NONE of them were singers.
A monster of vanity. Brilliant. The guts she possessed. 1 in a million. Florence, I love you!
The green high heeled shoe on her head really did it for me.
Great to see a bit of Joyce’s portrayal of her. Recently found out that Florence is buried in my town.
I bet those guys wearing the headphones were grateful. :: Can't believe that Gregor Benko was holding a record with his fingers - always by the edge and the label.
10:03 Expectation
10:30 Reality
Reminds me a lot of one of my cousins who really thinks she has a gift. none of us have the heart to tell her she sounds much like FFJ here.......
"hey, have you seen this cool documentary?" 😬
My oldest daughter sang soooo loud and out of tune, my sons would beg her to stop. I actually loved it, because she was joyous. I lost her in 2017, and would give anything to hear her sing...
Lisa Gail
At a young age, she performed a piano recital at the White House...she was quite good. Singing - not so much. But she gave performances during the 1920s, 1930s, and early 1940s...
I was learning those arias when there was only Emule and I wanted to hear what they sounded like, before youtube existed you didn’t know what you were downloading until you checked it. I accidentally downloaded her and I laughed my little butt off for months! 😂
Better than anything being put out today
True!
Loved the documentary, she was living her dream. I actually know someone in NYC, who has lead exactly the same carrier. has even tour the UK, Please look her up , her name is Margarita Pracatan.
Greatest comparison I've heard yet is that she was to grand opera what Norma Desmond (albeit a fictional character) was to motion pictures.
Except Norma had actually been, in her youth, a great star
I remember seeing a small clip of the film and saying to myself I'm going to research more about this woman, but never did. Glad to see it in my recommended
Beautiful documentary! How great would it have been to experience her live.
The intro started playing and my dog who was fast asleep and snoring woke up and started barking 🤣🤣🤣🤣
God bless her. At least she believed in herself! You go for it Florence!
Yes. Let's all go forward in our delusions and what a marvellous world we would live in. A big hand for all the confident delusional people. Just what the world needs: More deception.
YT is really having a hayday w/all of these ads 😑
12 ads
Premium sidesteps commercials
Drag slider to the end and then restart!
Oh I know. For an hour long film 6 was more than enough but hello ads
I seriously love how SCATHING Gregor Benko is. Holy shit. He's great.
Maybe someone could hook her recordings up to an auto-tune or autocorrect just to see what happens.
I found this to be a very thoughtful and ultimately, respectful summation of Florence Foster Jenkins. She was definitely more than a voice that could peel paint, and this video shows why.
A similar story, in part, to the Beales of Grey Gardens (Big Edie & Little Edie). Wanting to be singers but women of wealthier classes were prevented by husband or father from pursuing performing careers because it "wasn't the done thing"; strutting around on the stage was beneath them. Never mind the fact that neither of them had anything like true talent but, they had the money to keep sycophants around to feed their delusions. Sweet, charming, without guile, and generous to a fault sometimes, but also gullible at times. Sad.
She was the Weird Al Yankovic of her day (but didn’t know it)! 😉🤣
No, weird al has real talent and skill. He understands many types of music, has a good singing voice, can rap, and play accordion.
@@cmwillisful I was joking, on the other hand I am a huge fan of Weird Al!
I think this story is so enduring. To live life in such an unbridled manner is some thing we can all learn from.
Not that much different than most of what the music industry
tries to push down our eardrums today.
No one knows what she really thought. She may well have been completely ironic. Even her bragging might have been her personal joke. Also, it should be taken into account that her recordings and her performances were all made when she was quite old for any singer.
14:54 .... was that from the magic flute (queen of the night)?
yes, Der Hölle Rache aria from the Magic Flute
she had a potential, but her total lack of musicality and inability to sing in tune was beyond any measure.
Where's the cast list? No credits?
Anyone else having trouble focusing on words coming out of the mouth of someone with an upside down shoe on her head?
Otherwise, this doc is visually spectacularly well done.
I have a love of listening to her sing, even though it's horrible. I think it's beautiful that she just had such a love for music & she was willing to do what she needed to achieve her dream. You can still hear the passion in each note & I hate that people around her (as portrayed by the documentary) just seem to hate on her. I think she's so interesting & wonderful!
The cinematography is a visual feast! The dreamy blur between reality and delusion was so well portrayed. I and all other trans women can relate to the beauty we aspire to and the dreary reality of our image to others.
It took me 37 mins when finally realised that headpiece is a shoe, haha. Joyce diDonato is an excellent opera singer, I didn’t know her, thanks for giving her Jenkins’ role in this film. Only a professional singer would be able to sing such ‘untalentedly ‘ as Florence did.
Btw how many self proclaimed talents are in the world nowadays with millions of admirers,followers earning millions who are worse performers than Florence was.🤔 She didn’t cause any harm to the world just coloured it. I wonder how the pieces would have chosen to be performed, whether she’d had any concept...
She reminds me Mrs Bucket 😆
Lol, I just texted my mom that today. We used to watch that britcom together.
Yes yes !! hahahaha exactly this is Mrs Bucket remember when she sings with the reverend at the keyboard.
@@goognamgoognw6637 ye and no one dare to say she's bad 🤣
I love that show!!!
Boo-kay!
After reading the comments, I'm getting me a shoe hat.