On the surface this a quite careful and conventionally constructed biographical picture. Showing the rise and fall of Jimmy and Tammy Faye Baker, during the golden days of American televangelism. Starting out as travelling preachers and ending with with Praise The Lord, a multi million pound business and world wide Christian TV station. The fraud, the betrayals and infidelities.
The film is based on a documentary of the same name. Tammy Faye comes across, in the movie at least, as a good hearted, yet naive person, who tries only to see the best in people. She is a bonafide eccentric, a singer and intuitive TV genius of sorts. Endeavouring to always come from a place of kindness and compassion. She was the first person on a Christian TV station to interview a gay man with HIV. Instinctively anti-bigotry and believed in seeing the human being, meeting the person before you without judgement. This appeared to be almost her default position. That, plus the OTT personality, the make up and dress sense, has resulted in her becoming a bit of a gay icon.
This is Jessica Chastain's film, and quite rightly won an Oscar for her performance as Tammy Faye. Like Meryl Street playing Julia Childs, Chastain transforms herself into the magnificent being that was Tamny Faye, but has to tone her down for the film. Otherwise no one would believe she was a real person. Its to Chastain's credit that her performance bursts forth with her character, but avoids making her into a cartoon figure. Emerging as a warm, humane person. When Tammy Faye discovers she has unwittingly been party to illegality, or when she is unfaithful to her husband, the pain of how sordid that is to her, of falling short of her ideals for herself, is really felt.
You could criticise this film for not digging deeper into exposing the dodgy ethics, inhuman cruelty and money grubbing hypocrisy of tele-evangelism. But the central performance, once it fully takes hold really leaves little room for anything else.
CARROT REVIEW - 6/8
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