Movie · 2016 · Comedy, Drama · 1h 50m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 3.6/10 (108.9K ratings)
Every voice deserves to be heard.
Overview
The story of Florence Foster Jenkins, a New York heiress, who dreamed of becoming an opera singer, despite having a terrible singing voice.
Ratings
Curator score: 3.6/10
IMDb: 6.8/10
Letterboxd: 3.16/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 87%
Metacritic: 71
TMDB: 6.7/10
Director
Stephen Frears
Production
BBC Film, Qwerty Films, Pathé
Cast
Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant, Simon Helberg, Rebecca Ferguson, Nina Arianda, Stanley Townsend, Allan Corduner, Christian McKay, David Haig, John Sessions, Brid Brennan, John Kavanagh, Pat Starr, Maggie Steed, Thelma Barlow, Liza Ross, Paola Dionisotti, Rhoda Lewis, Aida Garifullina, David Mills
Where to watch
Paramount Plus Essential
Curator Review
Verdict
A polished, gently funny prestige dramedy with a strong central performance and an appealing underdog-showbiz premise, but it softens the sharper edges of Florence Foster Jenkins’ story and can feel emotionally evasive. The film works best as a showcase for performance, period detail, and affectionate irony rather than as a fully satisfying character study.
Best for
Viewers who enjoy actor-driven period dramedies
Fans of stories about delusion, ambition, and public performance
People who like warm, polished British-style comedy-drama
Audiences looking for an accessible, low-stakes prestige film
Skip if
You want a more incisive or unsentimental biopic
You’re sensitive to films that cushion uncomfortable truths with sentiment
You dislike stories where the supporting characters do most of the dramatic heavy lifting
You want a sharper satire of class, art-world vanity, or self-deception
Overview
Florence Foster Jenkins is built around a wonderfully absurd true story and a performance that knows exactly how to balance vanity, vulnerability, and comic timing. Stephen Frears keeps the film elegant and easy to watch, with enough wit and period texture to make the whole thing glide even when the script takes a softer, more conventional route than the premise suggests.
Worth noting
The movie’s biggest strength is its lead performance, which turns a potentially one-note joke into something more complicated: a woman who is ridiculous, yes, but also deeply committed to a fantasy that protects her from the world. Hugh Grant and Simon Helberg add charm and rhythm, though the film often seems more interested in preserving Florence’s bubble than challenging it.
Bottom line
That makes the film pleasant, but also a little frustrating. It wants to be affectionate rather than cruel, and that generosity is part of its appeal, but it can also flatten the sharper social and psychological possibilities in the material. As a result, it lands as a respectable, entertaining mid-tier prestige comedy-drama rather than a fully memorable one.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Marian (2.5★) · 565 likes
if I was rich I would pay everyone to be nice to me and protect me from the harsh truths of reality too
screencamille · 532 likes
Meryl Streep got her 20th Nomination for the 2017 Oscars because of this film. I'm not trying to take anything away from that achievement but the Academy is so far up Meryl's ass they can hear her jaw click.
clownhead (1★) · 405 likes
me: so this looks like some lighthearted oscar-magnet vapidity, love it, love meryl, sign me up,
florence foster jenkins (2016): is a 110 minute advertisement for gaslighting, makes a terrible rape joke within fifteen minutes for absolutely zero reason, completely infantilises its protagonist due to her self-enforced celibacy (because of course a sexless woman is a useless, pitiful creature), includes a cast member from the big bang theory in a substantial role & thus forces me to actually look at his… more me: so this looks like some lighthearted oscar-magnet vapidity, love it, love meryl, sign me up,
florence foster jenkins (2016): is a 110 minute advertisement for gaslighting, makes a terrible rape joke within fifteen minutes for absolutely zero reason, completely infantilises its protagonist due to her self-enforced celibacy (because of course a sexless woman is a useless, pitiful creature), includes a cast member from the big bang theory in a substantial role & thus forces me to actually look at his… more
Jorge Pinarello (4★) · 229 likes
Cuando era chico tenía una fascinación desmesurada por la película Anaconda, esa en la que Jennifer López y Ice Cube se enfrentan a una serpiente gigante y asesina. La pasaban constantemente en Canal 11 y en algún otro canal de cable cuyo nombre se me escapa. Siempre la veía. Amaba Anaconda, pero no con el mismo fervor con que adoraba Jurassic Park o Volver al Futuro; era un amor distinto, de otra naturaleza. En ese entonces no encontraba palabras para… more Cuando era chico tenía una fascinación desmesurada por la película Anaconda, esa en la que Jennifer López y Ice Cube se enfrentan a una serpiente gigante y asesina. La pasaban constantemente en Canal 11 y en algún otro canal de cable cuyo nombre se me escapa. Siempre la veía. Amaba Anaconda, pero no con el mismo fervor con que adoraba Jurassic Park o Volver al Futuro; era un amor distinto, de otra naturaleza. En ese entonces no encontraba palabras para… more
bri (0.5★) · 196 likes
if florence lived in this decade you know she’d make vines of herself singing and become a meme