It was at Live Aid in 1985 that Freddie Mercury cemented his place amongst the legends of modern music. No surprise, then, that this incredible, seminal Queen performance provides the book-end for this Freddie Mercury biopic.
The film opens with a knock on the door of an airstream, from which the band emerge. Freddie energetically makes his way to the stage before being introduced before a worldwide audience of hundreds of millions.
We then cut back to the 1960s where young Farrokh Bulsara is working as a baggage handler at Heathrow and, in perhaps the film’s most bizarre scene, he is racially abused and replies by saying ‘I’m not from Pakistan’.
From there the film moves swiftly from his meeting with Roger Taylor and Brian May and his joining the band that became Queen, through the writing and recording of various songs and albums, all the way back to the full Live Aid performance (though missing We Will Rock You, for some reason) which closes the film. Here’s a trailer:
First things first, this is not a warts and all portrayal of Freddie’s life. Whilst his excess, his debauchery and his unpleasantnesses are present, they’re couched in a way that preserves his legacy in the minds of the viewer. This is exactly the film that Sascha Baron-Cohen didn’t want to make and exactly the film that Queen did.
That said, we do get an excellent portrayal of his life, his sensibilities and his vulnerabilities. Accusations of straight-washing don’t hold, as his sexuality is never denied. Yes, he spends a lot of time with Mary but then…he did. We also see knowing hints of the debauchery of his parties; ‘white powder on the coffee table’ substitutes for actually seeing cocaine being snorted.
The only real downpoints, apart from the Heathrow scene, are, firstly, the performance of Mike Myers in what is the weakest scene of the entire film. Mike Myers can’t do the subtle comedy required here, so you end up with an incongruous caricature of a record executive, whose soul purpose seems to be to shoehorn in a reference to Wayne’s World. Secondly, a LOT of artistic licence is taken with the timeline. Clearly we don’t have time to see the detail of each of the 11 studio albums that Queen recorded over the timespan depicted but if you want an accurate account of what happened and when you’re better off reading Wikipedia.
But that doesn’t detract from what is, all in all, a VERY good film. It’s exactly the grandiose spectacle you would expect a film about Freddie to be. The actors nail their roles better than you might think possible and, as always, Tom Hollander is a delight, portraying their lawyer-cum-manager Jim Beach. And at the end, the recreation of Live Aid is nothing short of incredible. If you want to be guided on a journey through the life of Freddie Mercury that’s fairly gentle without being superficial then this is the film for you. If you want a tawdry look deep into the more salacious aspects then you’ll have to go elsewhere.
I enjoyed this film even more than I expected too and I walked out feeling significantly more fabulous than I had when I walked in!
Cinematophile 