Grace of My Heart
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| Grace of My Heart | |
|---|---|
 Clockwise from right: Illeana Douglas, Matt Dillon, Eric Stoltz and John Turturro as depicted on the Grace of My Heart soundtrack cover |
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| Directed by | Allison Anders |
| Written by | Allison Anders |
| Starring | Illeana Douglas Matt Dillon Eric Stoltz John Turturro |
| Distributed by | Gramercy Pictures |
| Release date(s) | September 13, 1996 |
| Running time | 1 hr. 56 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Grace of My Heart is a 1996 film from writer-director Allison Anders. The story is set in the pop-music world of the 1960s, and the personal life and career trajectory of its protagonist, Denise Waverly (played by Illeana Douglas), strongly parallel those of singer-songwriter Carole King. The soundtrack features a variety of songs, by such artists as Burt Bacharach, Elvis Costello, Joni Mitchell and Jill Sobule, which replicate the musical style that emerged from the Brill Building, New York's legendary music factory during the heyday of girl groups and "pre-fab" acts like The Monkees.
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[edit] Synopsis
Douglas's "Denise Waverly" is the stage name dreamed up for one Edna Buxton, an heiress from a prominent Philadelphia family, by her agent Joel Millner (played by John Turturro) in order to give Buxton credibility. Prior to meeting Millner, and reworking one of her ballads for an all male doo-wop group, Edna wins a talent contest that turns out to be more publicity stunt than viable career opportunity. After partnering with Millner and his act, the newly rechristened Denise Waverly moves into a cramped office in the Brill Building and writes songs for The Luminaries, a girl group she befriends and urges Millner to represent. Millner doubts the commercial viability of the act but takes a chance, and The Luminaries, led by Doris Shelley (Jennifer Leigh Warren), enjoy unprecedented success. In the movie's mythos, Denise is credited with sparking the craze for girl groups at a time when female voices are scarcely heard on the airwaves. Flush with success, Denise becomes professionally and romantically linked with Howard Cazsatt (Eric Stoltz), a fellow Brill Building tunesmith who evinces a beatnik pose. The two marry but quickly divorce due to Cazsatt's infidelities; Waverly later resettles in California where she struggles through yet another doomed relationship before reclaiming her artistic voice.
[edit] Real life particulars
[edit] The Goffin-King connection
In real life, Carole King and her first husband Gerry Goffin were based in the Brill Building and penned such hits as "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" (recorded by The Shirelles),"The Loco-Motion" (introduced by Little Eva, the Goffin-King's babysitter), "One Fine Day" (a hit for The Chiffons) and many others. In Grace of My Heart, "One Fine Day" is paid tribute in "Born to Love That Boy," the first song Waverly composes for The Luminaries (per the lyric, "I don't care what the other girls say/One fine day he'll marry me"). A bouncy ode to the maxim that love is blind, "Born to Love That Boy," written by Goffin and Larry Klein, also recalls the thematically similar "He's A Rebel," a Gene Pitney penned tune made famous by The Crystals. Louise Goffin, daughter of Goffin and King, shares songwriting credit with her father on "Between Two Worlds" (performed on the soundtrack by Shawn Colvin). The elder Goffin's stamp can also be found on "In Another World," the tune that establishes Waverly as a hit songwriter; the band Los Lobos also contributes to the track.
[edit] Stand-ins for Phil Spector, Lesley Gore, Ellie Greenwich, etc.
Elsewhere, real-life permeates Grace of My Heart in several forms, such as Turturro's character who invites comparisons to both Phil Spector (mainly because of his dark, wig-like coif) and Don Kirshner, while The Luminaries' Doris Shelley suggests both Shirley Owen and Doris Coley of The Shirelles. Also, former teen duo, David and Andrew Williams (nephews of crooner Andy Williams), are featured as Everly Brothers soundalikes. Similarly, Bridget Fonda has an extended cameo as Kelly Porter, a dewey faced ingenue not unlike Lesley Gore, well known for bubblegum angst like "It's My Party" and "You Don't Own Me." The lush ballad "My Secret Love" hints at Porter's lesbianism in a nod to Gore's own professed sexuality. Gore co-wrote the song, which is dubbed by Miss Lily Banquette of retro-lounge band, Combustible Edison. Further, Bruce Davison plays a disc jockey whose moniker, John Murray, evokes memories of radio's influential Murray the K. Whereas in real life Murray the K was an early, ardent supporter of The Beatles, in the film it is John Murray who likewise explains to Denise Waverly how The Fab Four are about to revolutionize the music industry.
Besides King, Goffin and Spector, the Brill Building was home base for songwriting duo Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry, as well as Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. In Grace of My Heart, these artists, and Greenwich in particular, are referenced musically via "I Do," The Luminaries' stylistic match for "Chapel of Love," originally written by Spector, Greenwich and Barry for The Ronettes but best remembered for the version produced by Leiber and Stoller for The Dixie Cups. The "doo-whaddy-whaddy" refrain of "I Do" also invites comparisons to Greenwich's "Doo-Wah-Diddy" which was recorded by The Exciters and Manfred Mann. Like King, however, Greenwich has no actual contributions to the movie soundtrack. '"I Do" is instead credited to Carole Bayer Sager and Dave Stewart (formerly of Eurythmics).
[edit] Echoes of A Star is Born
The second half of Grace of My Heart plays like a variation on the classic, oft revisted, Hollywood tearjerker A Star is Born with Matt Dillon portraying Jay Phillips, a self-destructive musical genius clearly modelled on The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson (and/or Dennis Wilson). This is a narrative leap on the part of Anders, since there is nothing indicating King and Wilson were ever initimately involved; however, King's third husband, Rick Evers, did die of a drug overdose a year after the wedding. At the end of the movie, Waverly returns to the studio, not as a "behind-the-scenes" songwriter, but as a performer in her own right. Her album Grace of My Heart becomes a multi-million seller, much like King's Tapestry did in the early 1970's. Waverly's triumph places her squarely in the tradition of cinematic predecessors who overcome heartache and reclaim their place in the spotlight by the closing credits. Even Waverly's birth name, Edna Buxton, conjures memories of Esther Blodgett, the femme lead in the 1937 and 1954 versions of A Star is Born.
[edit] Notable lapses
Grace of My Heart boasts solid performances, and Anders exhibits genuine moviemaking verve, such as a montage that cuts between Waverly and Cazsatt composing a song, the episode that first inspired it, and the subsequent recording session. Still, even though Anders has clearly done her research, there are some notable lapses. Besides the unlikely pairing of Waverly and the Brian Wilson stand-in enacted by Dillon, there is the matter of Joel Millner’s all male doo-wop group, The Stylettes. “Ette” is a diminuitive suffix often used to denote the feminine, such as The Primettes (which is how The Supremes were originally billed), or the world famous drill team from Texas’s Kilgore College, The Kilgore Rangerettes; therefore, “Stylettes” registers as an unlikely fit for a guy group in a period known for rigidly defined gender roles.
Anders also temporarily veers away from her main character to focus on the increasingly erratic Jay Phillips. One especially lengthy scene explores the dynamic between desperately troubled Phillips and his apparently unhinged guru-therapist, played by David Clennon. This episode brings to mind the well documented Svengali-like relationship between Brian Wilson and Dr. Eugene Landy, and while this reflects historical veracity on Anders' part, it reduces Waverly to barely more than "the girl" of the piece.
[edit] The music
[edit] Bacharach-Costello
Though Waverly sings throughout the movie, Douglas is dubbed by Kristen Vigard. At the beginning, Edna does a teasing version of "Hey There," first heard in the musical The Pajama Game and further popularized by Rosemary Clooney. Another of Waverly's big musical moments occurs when she goes into the studio to lay down tracks for "God Give Me Strength," an expensively produced single that fails to generate much excitement on the charts, thus alluding to Phil Spector's recording of "River Deep, Mountain High" for Tina Turner (written by Spector, Greenwich and Barry). In real-life "God Give Me Strength" is a Bacharach-Costello collaboration, and it is their version, not Vigard's, on the soundtrack cd. Costello also wrote "Unwanted Number," which, in the movie, is crafted by Waverly and Cazsatt as a tune for The Luminaries. The song causes a scandal because it tells a sympathetic story of an unmarried pregnant teenager, bold stuff for the early '60's, though somewhat comparable to Goffin-King's "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," or the dubious "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)" (The Crystals), as well as Diana Ross & the Supremes' "Love Child" or even Janis Ian's inter-racial lament, "Society's Child."
[edit] The Riptides
The Riptides, Anders' Beach Boys equivalent, clock in with "Take a Run At the Sun," while Dillon's Phillips goes solo for "Don't You Think It's Time." The former suggests the "endless summer" ideal associated with the Beach Boys and even incorporates a theremin effect that harks back to "Good Vibrations." Phillips' songs are co-written by Larry Klein and J. Mascis; the latter does double duty as the tracks' lead singer, though his style isn't as clear and controlled as those of Brian Wilson or Mike Love. Additionally, Mascis appears onscreen as a soundboard operator. Klein, meanwhile, is credited with producing several cuts on the soundtrack besides composing incidental music and briefly appearing as a lecherous producer named Larry.
[edit] The soundtrack CD
Although Grace of My Heart is chock full of musical sequences, the selections have been pared down for the soundtrack cd. For example, Doris Shelley, with or without The Luminaries, performs a half dozen tunes onscreen but is limited to three selections on the companion cd: "Born to Love That Boy," "I Do," and "Unwanted Number." (The Luminaries are voiced by the now defunct girl group For Real.) Likewise, The Williams Brothers are depicted harmonizing two songs, "Heartbreak Kid" and "Love Doesn't Ever Fail Us," but only the latter appears on the soundtrack disc. Additionally, Vigard's stunning "Hey There" is excluded from the cd, and her "In Another World" demo is jettisoned in favor of The Stylettes' slick rendition (via Portrait).
Two artists who survive the screen-to-disc cut are Joni Mitchell and Jill Sobule. Sobule, best known for the 1995 novelty hit "I Kissed a Girl" has a walk-on and also sings the countrified waltz "Truth Is You Lied," complete with easy listening, Ray Conniff style background chorus. Mitchell, one of King's contemporaries in the Southern Californian folk-rock movement, is represented by "Man From Mars," which she wrote though Vigard supplies the plaintive vocal.
[edit] Miscellaneous
Grace of My Heart was Anders's second feature after coming to prominence with 1992's Gas Food Lodging. Martin Scorsese is listed in the credits as Grace of My Heart's executive producer. The movie was co-edited by Thelma Schoonmaker, an Oscar winner for her work on Scorsese's Raging Bull (and now The Aviator). The cinematographer is Jean-Yves Escoffier; Francois Sequin is the Production designer, and the costumes are by Susan Bertram. The cast is rounded out by Lynne Adams, Kathy Barbour, Natalie Venetia Belcon, Peter Fonda, Chris Isaak, Lucinda Jenney, Patsy Kensit, Christina Pickles, Richard Schiff and Tracy Vilar.
The movie was released in the fall of 1996, just ahead of Oscar winning actor Tom Hanks' directorial debut That Thing You Do!, which likewise covered the early to mid 1960s pop music scene and featured original, retro-styled songs such as the Oscar nominated title track by Adam Schlesinger, of Fountains of Wayne.
