Behind the Candelabra is Stephen Soderbergh’s film about Liberace, starring Michael Douglas and Matt Damon, and already you will have heard two things which, naturally, you will need me to confirm so you can move on with your life. These two things are:
1. It is fabulous.
2. The film was ultimately funded by the television channel HBO, as Hollywood declared it ‘too gay’.
I will now deal with both:
1. Yes. It is fabulous. No other word for it, unless that word is ‘glorious’.
2. True and, if I had the time, I would go to Hollywood and knock their heads together. Saying this film is ‘too gay’ is like saying Citizen Kane was ‘too newspapery’ or Brief Encounter ‘too trainy’, as it’s human stories that audiences are interested in, and this is as powerful and universal and moving a human story as any.
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