Respect Review

Aretha Franklin is the latest beloved musical to receive the biopic treatment. It’s a film following on a tread that Walk the Line and Bohemian Rhapsody has started.

Respect follows the life of Aretha Franklin (Skye Dakota Turner/Jennifer Hudson) from the age of 10 to the release of her live album of Amazing Grace in 1972. During this 20-year period Franklin’s musical style evolves, she gets used and abused by the men in her life and succumbs to alcoholism.

Musical biopics have proven to be popular with audiences and often allow actors in an iconic role. Bohemian Rhapsody earned over $900 million at box-office and Rami Malek a Best Actor Oscar despite mixed reviews. Films like Walk the Line, Bohemian Rhapsody, and Rocketman have been proven crowd-pleasers. Fans want to see the life of their favourite artists and hear their favourite songs.

However, musical biopics have ended up being one of the most formulaic films. Despite every artist having different journeys and with their own musical style and influences, these biopics end up showing the same story over and over again. The artists all have the same struggles with romance, their families, the record label/music industry, and substance abuse. The film Walk Hard was able to parody the formula back in 2007

Respect leaves no cliché unused.  Respect has a similar trajectory to various other musical biopics with the film starting by showing Franklin’s talent from a young age, and end with a live show and come back. Along the way Franklin suffers from the abusive relationships from her father (Forest Whittaker) and husband/manager, Ted White (Marlon Wayans), becomes a diva, becomes an absentee parent, and their substance abuse affects their performance. As in films like Walk the Line and Judy, Franklin has a disastrous performance when intoxicated.

Aretha Franklin seems to have a similar backstory to artists like Whitney Houston and Amy Winehouse. All three women were used by their fathers and partners. The comparison with Houston was particularly strong because both women came from a gospel background and were troubled in a relationship which partly led to their substance use. If films were made about Houston or Winehouse they will probably end up being a lot like Respect.

Respect does attempt a theme with Franklin finding her voice and her musical style. Her father and Ted White dominated over her in her early career. They spoke for her in meetings and tried to control her musical direction. Under her father and Columbia Records Franklin just sang covers and her records performed poorly in the charts. Ted White was a control freak who didn’t like it when Franklin spoke, like when she wanted to work with the musicians in Alabama.

She slowly gets to speak up by the ‘70s because she becomes a diva, and she speaks out in favour of more militant action during the Civil Rights Movement. Whilst musically she went from gospel singer, to cover singer, showed she could write hits when given some freedom, and her career goes full circle because she wants to make a gospel album. Throughout Respect Franklin got lessons from various mentor figures and it all boiled down to the same thing: sing what you want, sing with passion.

Respect covers a lot of ground during its run time. It moves along at a whirlwind pace. Nothing was allowed to settle or breathe.  It’s a similar issue to many biopics that cover a long period of time. Respect wanted to show how Franklin’s music evolved during her career and the various personal drama she had in her life.

Where Respect’s success was in its acting. Jennifer Hudson was the only woman capable of playing Franklin because she had the acting and singing chops for the role. Hudson gave her all heart-and-soul for the role. She really wants to win another Oscar. Marlon Wayans was the most surprising member of the cast because he gave a terrific performance as Franklin’s abusive husband. He was a vile piece of work and Wayans shows that if he steps away from his rubbish comedies he can be a perfectly capable actor.

Fans of Aretha Franklin will probably enjoy Respect as they hear a lot of hits and get an insight into her life. Most audiences will enjoy it on some level. But it was a safe, mainstream biopic that tries to cover too much.