A brilliant young fund manager leaves her unfulfilling job and long-term boyfriend to chase her lifelong dream of becoming an opera singer in the Scottish Highlands.
Danielle Macdonald, who appeared in the Netflix series “Unbelievable,” stars as Millie who seemingly has the perfect adult life. She’s a standout at her job as a fund manager and is up for a promotion, she has a nice apartment and a long-time boyfriend. Despite her success though, she isn’t quite happy, and she decides to leave it all behind to pursue her dream of becoming an opera singer.
This finds her in a dingy small-town home to the renowned vocalist and former opera singer Megan Geoffrey-Bishop (Joanna Lumley). She eventually agrees to take her on as her student. Thus, making her one other student, Max (Hugh Skinner from “Fleabag”), not happy at all.
Many people question Millie on why she dropped everything to sing opera, many of whom thought it to be a silly whim, but I admire her determination to follow through with her dream. She never backs down or doubts herself when it comes to opera singing, which eventually endears Max to her.
Millie quickly finds out that Megan is not an easy teacher. She is not afraid to cut you down and may even get a bit physical. I know nothing about the process of becoming an opera singer, but the film rightfully showcases that it is hard work. And it is clear that despite her scathing remarks towards him, Megan is also quite fond of Max. The movie even points out how she is a mother figure to him.
The love story is quite predictable, and while I did like both Millie and Max as characters, I did not totally buy into their romance. They seemed to only come together since they were the only relatively young people in town that loved opera. Their relationship does have some drama, Millie is still with her longtime boyfriend that she clearly does not love, but it’s very surface level.
And while there are plenty of memorable mentors in film, such as Edward James Olmos’ Jaime Escalante in “Stand and Deliver,” or J.K. Simmons’ Terence Fletcher in “Whiplash,” Lumley’s character fails to stand out as one. She is very intelligent and strategic, but we never really learn much about her. She is underutilized and underdeveloped, which is a shame since the character is so insightful.
Overall, “Falling for Figaro” is a nice little rom-com, but it fails to make a lasting impression. Despite good performances and the character work apparent in the two leads, the film lacks the spark needed to engage its viewers in this love story.
In Theaters and on VOD Friday, October 1st
