Review of Behind the Candelabra (2013) by Jasen L — 31 May 2013

Michael Douglas brings the flamboyant American entertainer Liberace to life in a stunning, career-defining performance that fleshes out the preening, narcissistic entertainer with a penchant for rhinestones and elaborate costuming.

Matt Damon, in a much more subtle turn as his younger lover Scott Thorson is equally brilliant, and together they make Steven Soderbergh's entertaining, engaging, outrageous, honest and startling film fly.

The movie is essentially a character study of a mismatched couple with all their quirks and intimacy - Liberace and Thorson - and the excesses of fame and fortune. Based on the book by Thorson, it recounts their relationship from the point Scott is introduced to Liberace at a Vegas concert until the entertainer's death from complications arising from AIDS in the late 1980's.

Douglas completely disappears into character, tempering the camp, flamboyant, predatory entertainer's excess and vanity with just the right dose of restraint, tenderness, generosity and kindness, with Damon subtly layering Thorson's character's ultimate descent into drug addiction and his inability to accept the reality of his circumstance.

Dan Aykroyd turns in a superb turn as Liberace's crusty manager Seymour Heller and Rob Lowe is a hoot as the smarmy plastic surgeon Jack Startz. Ultimately, this is director Steven Soderbergh's show, creating a saturated, rich, visually flamboyant look and reining it in with deeply human performances from his leads and a whip-smart sense of place, time and circumstance.

He never lets his deeply observant film slip into freak show territory, captaining his rhinestone-studded ship with a sure hand and driven by unmatched character portrayals by Douglas and Damon.