Shocking personal accusations, a political smear, and cultural taboos threaten the relationship between Hollywood power couple Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.
I grew up watching Lucille Ball and I feel confident in saying I thought she was the most hilarious and strikingly beautiful redhead that I had ever seen. Her husband Ricky was a looker too. Those strong Cuban genes, along with the stiff accent made for easy watching while I eagerly anticipated what would happen next as they hilariously went about their days and went back and forth with their equally silly neighbors, Fred and Ethel. While Lucy appeared to be an airhead, there was much more rhyme and reason to her antics than I could grasp at the time. While it wasn’t important to me back then to know that they were married in real life, it now makes sense how the fussing, fighting, and arguing seemed a little less rehearsed with each show.
As I sat through this film, dissecting all the moving parts of the live sitcom, learning the true story behind the two humans who loved each other to a fault, it was somewhat disenchanting to learn that the real Lucille Ball (Nicole Kidman) was a power-hungry negotiator with sketchy communist ties, and the real Desi Arnaz (Javier Bardem) wasn’t the bumbling immigrant that that generated lots of laughs. One thing for sure though is that the demands that Lucy made of the show’s producers were essential to establishing Ricky as more than a great Band Leader, but also a man who stood his ground when necessary, and one who had many ideas and some flexibility when it came to his career options. Married to each other for twenty years, it appears that both Lucy and Desi weren’t faithful to one another and when Lucy originally filed for divorce in 1944, it appeared to be just a way of getting Desi’s attention as it was later called off. Lucy, who was a struggling B-list actress before they got married, had a successful radio show called “My Favorite Husband,” and when offered a television series, The “I Love Lucy” show, she demanded that they cast her husband instead of her former co-star, Richard Denning. The producers initially had a problem matching a white woman with a Cuban man, but Lucy wouldn’t have it any other way. The show which ran from 1951 to 1957, thrived on its own merit, but apparently wasn’t indicative of the real relationship between the two as there were constant accusations of infidelity and unhealthy competition. After they divorced in 1960, Lucy married Gary Morton a year later and Desi wed Edith Mack Hirsch a few years later.
Director Aaron Sorkin does an incredible job with the casting of Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem as they both have the natural appeal of the famous couple as well as the uncanny character flaws that made them household sweethearts. While the entire film spans only one week of production, the way it is presented moves nicely among the small segments of their entire lives telling a story that many of us may not have been prepared to digest. The appeal of it all though is being able to revisit a comfort zone that brought many of us together in front of the television in simpler and uncomplicated times of unbridled laughter and unpredictable antics.
In Select Theaters Friday, December 10th,
and on Amazon Prime Video Tuesday, December 21st
