One Line Review: The snarky humor, as well as the obvious amusement of a love triangle, were both enjoyable.
Youtube Trailer Falling for Figaro
Starring: Danielle Macdonald, Hugh Skinner
Director: Ben Lewin
Release Date: 1 Oct 2021
Introduction
The 2021 Bentonville Film Festival, hosted by Geena Davis, features a number of intriguing titles, one of which immediately caught my attention: an opera singer rom-com! By just looking at the concept, I was fairly certain that Falling for Figaro would be a cutesy way to kill a couple of hours of my time. I had no idea that the film’s endearing love story and its lead character Millie’s passionate determination to pursue her dreams later in life would be as endearing as they turned out to be.
Plot analysis
Millie (Danielle Macdonald, who just finished an excellent performance as the fortune teller in French Exit) is content with her thriving career as a fund manager, but she yearns for something more personally fulfilling. During her free time, Millie enjoys attending operas with her charming, but stuffy, boyfriend Charlie (Profile’s Shazad Latif). She is so taken with the performances that she fantasizes about playing the lead role one day. It is from this point that a dream is conceived. In the face of a new initiative at work, Millie instead makes a startling, and ultimately life-changing, decision: she will pursue a career as an opera singer.
Charlie is initially supportive of her decision, implying that he and Millie will have more time for sex as a result of her departure. The revelation of her operatic singing ambitions causes Charlie to compare it to the prospect of joining the circus, and he is taken aback. To get away from her unfulfilling life, Millie takes a job as a tutor in the Scottish Highlands, where she learns under the guidance of the legendary Meghan Geoffrey-Bishop (a fantastic Joanna Lumley). Meghan welcomes Millie with open arms, despite the fact that she forces her to audition to be one of her students and looks through an empty planner as if she is completely booked when she receives a phone call.
Meghan as an important character
Meghan is a perfectionist who will test Millie’s mettle in more ways than one as she strives for perfection. It is because of this belief that an opera singer “needs to suffer” that she pulls on her tongue and yells at Millie to open her mouth as loudly as possible. Meghan is supposed to be retired, but she still has one student, Max (Hugh Skinner of Fleabag and Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! fame), who has been working with her for more than five years and has been with her since she was a child. He also works part-time as a server at a nearby pub. Max is a talented singer who is envious of the attention Millie is receiving at the moment. When Millie and Max begin to practice together, something in their relationship shifts dramatically. They put their hands on each other to feel the vibrations of their vocals, and they immediately feel a connection with one another.
Adventure of Millie
The majority of the film is devoted to Millie’s attempts to adjust to her new environment. Her many years at her stifling job have not prepared her for the level of attention—or the amount of hard work—that will be required to achieve success. Danielle Macdonald plays her with a childlike innocence that is backed up by a fierce determination. In contrast, Max’s debut performance in front of an audience, a show-stopping highlight of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” earns him rave reviews, while her debut performance in front of an audience is dubbed “fish and chips without the vinegar.” Throughout the film, Max and Millie hope to be successful in the Singer of Renown competition, which is, of course, the film’s main plot arc. There are some incredible musical performances on the night. I was taken aback by the level of vocal ability displayed by these actors, and I was left wondering how many of them sang themselves.
Conclusion
The snarky humor, as well as the obvious amusement of a love triangle, were both enjoyable. Although this is not a film that will pave a new path for rom-coms around the world, there is no reason why it should not. When something isn’t broken, it’s not necessary to fix it, and writer/director Ben Lewin, along with his co-writer Allen Palmer, are acutely aware of this. They embrace the cliches in a lighthearted manner. Danielle Macdonald and Hugh Skinner have chemistry that is out of this world! Falling for Figaro is a romantic comedy that hits all the right notes of feel-good joy for fans of the genre.
