Director Rupert Goold”s Judy, a biopic of the famed American actress, singer and dancer Judy Garland, is based on the play “End Of The Rainbow” by playwright Peter Quilter. It gives us an insight into the last few months of the singer”s life.
The film concentrates mainly on the last few months of 1968, when the legendary Judy Garland travelled to London for a series of sold-out stage performances, where she is shown to be in a financial mess, and addicted to drugs and alcohol. Battling a tough, lonely life, she is trying to reunite with her kids. It is her financial desperation that leads her to accept an offer for a series of concerts in London.
Laid in a non-linear narrative, the film zips through the singer”s past and present in a fluid manner, with not much of a plot. The film oft flashbacks to one of her biggest triumphs, ”The Wizard Of Oz”, only to demonstrate the beginning of her troubles. Her present-day alcoholism, pill popping and narcissism, can trace their roots to her younger days where she was bullied, harassed and molested by the studio honcho Louis B. Mayer.