I never really got opera. I like musicals. Musicals makes sense to me; sometimes you gotta sing your feelings. I get that. Opera always seemed showy. Opera always seemed to me like, “Ok, I understand singing your feelings, but why would you sing them like that?”
It’s really the same thing. I just didn’t understand.
The lure of opera – and, specifically, the lure of singing opera as a profession — is the motivation for American-in-England Millie Cantwell (Danielle Macdonald). Millie likes opera better than sex. She demonstrates as much in denying her fella, Charlie (Shazad Latif), early on. They both work together and sleep together, which I think of as something of a nightmare, but, hey, to each their own.
Millie is quickly rising in their money management firm. In fact, it’s harder to see which is the more far fetched of the options here – the fact that Millie has risen so far in such a short time without a matching passion or that she imagines there is actually a route to becoming a diva at her age without any formal training of any kind. This brings us to the plot: Millie turns down a promotion and a raise, in fact quits her job altogether to give a year to her dream of opera stardom.
Whaaaaaaa …?!?!
Yes, that’s crazy.
And not just a little crazy. A lot crazy.
Oh, and it speaks to a kind of privilege most cannot imagine. I mean, think about it: If you’re 30 and you up and decide that you’re going to pursue your hobby for real without a safety net, well, you’re either insane and destined for street life … or you have a big fat safety net already.
Turns out, Millie does have talent – or at least the person who sings when Millie opens her mouth has talent. This dream could have been over real fast if she couldn’t actually sing. And part of me wonders: what’s wrong with community theater? You like singing opera? You like the stage? You want an audience? I’m sure there are several options that aren’t the Royal Opera House, knowwhatI’msayin’? Some might even allow you to keep your really lucrative job on the side.
But then we wouldn’t have a plot. At The Filthy Pig, somewhere in Scrapple-on-the-moor, Scotland, Millie finds a
n eccentric opera teacher, Meghan Geoffrey-Bishop (Joanna Lumley) – think J.K. Simmons in Whiplash and you won’t be far off—who is already handling Millie’s rival and chef, Max Thistlewaite (Hugh Skinner). Millie is determined to spend a year in this three-house town, so she may as well get in good with the guy who creates and serves her every meal, even if he is just as determined to win the Singer of Renown competition for would-be prima donnas.
Falling for Figaro was a quiet and unexpected delight. Yeah, I can tell they’re lip synching. But it’s cute singing to Scottish cows and invading this nothing town with a ridiculous dream. In a way, Falling for Figaro is exactly what movies are supposed to be – an escape to a fantasy you never knew you had. Is anybody hurt by Millie Cantwell pursuing her dream of opera stardom? Of course not. And, in a way, I developed an appreciation for opera I never knew I had. This is a light and nothing kind of film, but an endearing one. I like Danielle Macdonald whenever I see her; I hope to see her again.
There once lived a woman named Millie
Who had a dream that was well beyond silly
She yearned to sing soprano
On stage with Cyrano
But first, tutelage from Milli Vanilli
Not Rated, 104 Minutes
Director: Ben Lewin
Writer: Ben Lewin, Allen Palmer
Genre: What’s Opera, Doc?
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Opera people, I hope
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Don’t like opera? Don’t like plus-size heroines? Done like rural Scotland? Take your pick.
