All of this nitpicking is to say that Respect avoids this awful cliche. Sure, it's still named after one of Aretha's most recognizable recordings, but in this case the title choice not only feels inspired, but it actually ties in to one of the film's main themes. Throughout the movie, Aretha is portrayed as a woman who searched for respect from others, only to realize by the end that the thing she was truly seeking was respect from herself. It's a little thing, but I feel like even a decision like that demonstrates how this film is considerably more heartfelt than your average biopic.
As an admirer of both music history and cinema, it only stands to reason that I would develop a sort of fascination with the music biopic. I've watched every last one I could get my hands on, even when they involve artists I don't particularly care about (did I mention Bohemian Rhapsody yet?). By familiarizing myself with this microgenre, I've not only determined what makes a biopic good or bad, but I've also begun to detect an easily identifiable formula.
Music biopics go back to the early 20th century. Even in the silent film era there was a movie about Paganini. I recall watching a pretty good 50s biopic about Gene Krupa. Oliver Stone's The Doors from 1991 was a heady and surreal tribute to Jim Morrison that became an arthouse classic. But it wasn't until 2004 when the fittingly titled Ray, chronicling the life of Ray Charles, came out and became an Academy Award-winning success that the music biopic formula would be established. Many subsequent films tried to imitate its dramatic balancing of career highlights and pathos, and by the late 2000's the music biopic archetype became such a running gag that it was parodied head-on in Jake Kasdan's Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007).
Of course, being mocked by John C. Reilly didn't stop the formula from running dry - if anything its popularity only grew even more massive by the late 2010s. That, however, didn't prevent filmmakers from attempting to direct biopics that consciously deviated from the established blueprint. 2007's I'm Not There finds director Todd Haynes illustrating the many public personas of Bob Dylan through years by employing six different actors to portray the elusive figure. Similarly, Bill Pohlad's Love & Mercy (2014) chooses not to explore Brian Wilson's entire life story, instead choosing to hone in on two eras of his life - his Pet Sounds-making prime in the mid-60s, and the mid-80s when he met his wife - and hire two actors to play the radically different Brian's that those two eras represent.
With that tangent out of the way, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is Respect chooses to adhere to the standard music biopic formula that Ray revolutionized almost 20 years ago. The good news is it's one of the most fantastic examples of what you can do within that seemingly not-so-rigid framework when you inject it with enough genuine love and respect for the subject at hand. It serves as a reminder of why that formula worked so well in the right place. In the right hands, it can be used to tell an artist's story in an incredibly gripping and moving way.
Let me put it this way. I walked into the theater admiring Aretha's most well-known hits but knowing much beyond that, and walked out as a newly-christened fan for life. I developed not only a deeper understanding of Aretha as a person, but also as a musician. I knew she was one of the most fabulous voices to ever grace our earth, but I knew nothing of her being an incredibly talented pianist, arranger, songwriter and producer in her own right. I knew 'Respect' was a cover of a 1965 Otis Redding song, but I didn't know that the most iconic bits in her version (such as the "just a little bit" and "sock it to me" chants) were penned by Aretha herself. In this film, you get to see all the little steps that helped the song develop from Aretha and her sisters riffing on the piano late at night to the absolute groove-monster it became when her Muscle Shoals band got hold of it. And it's one of the most goosebump-inducing music creation scenes I've seen in any film. The climax of the second act where she's seen performing the song onstage was such a force of nature that I almost cried tears of joy.
And while there are plenty great scenes demonstrating what made Aretha such a natural in the studio and onstage, music creation is just one of many themes that are explored thoroughly throughout the movie. You get to see Aretha's childhood and the psychological horrors she faced, you get to see her as an incredibly talented but understandably timid rising star in her early 20's, a troubled and lost soul in her early 30's, and by the end, a confident and reassured woman who has found her sense of self by her mid-30's. Aside from a clip of the real Aretha singing '(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman' in the 2010s (and sounding just as fabulous and awe-inspiring as she did in the 60s), the movie's narrative ends in 1972 with the recording of her seminal gospel album Amazing Grace. And while my stereotypical gay ass would've loved to see Aretha in the mid-80's recording her synth-disco hit 'Who's Zoomin' Who', I also think deciding to cap things off there was a wise decision. Aside from being a brilliant climax, restricting the majority of the plot's timeline to 1959-1972 means director Liesl Tommy gets the opportunity to explore that fruitful period to its fullest extent, and she takes full advantage.
I was somehow unaware of the cast before I went to see the film, and only started to realize just how star-studded it was when the credits started rolling. The only actor I recognized was Forrest Whitaker who plays Aretha's preacher-father-turned-manager C.L. Franklin, a role he tackles with absolute grace - unlike many other music biopics, his character isn't restricted to the kind of black-and-white worldbuilding where only "morally good" characters or "morally bad" characters can exist. He's seen as a flawed man, one who genuinely loves his daughter and sticks by her until the very end, even when he falsely threatens not to, and when he lets his emotions overcome him in the worst ways possible. In some ways, the movie is just as much about the personal growth of those around Aretha, such as her father, as much as it is a movie about her own personal growth. For instance, her sisters are initially shown as bitter and jealous, intentionally trying to sabotage Aretha's rise to stardom and stealing her glory. By the end however, they mature to the point where they're not only working together creatively, but emotionally supporting each other in equal measure.
The rest of the cast is also excellent - there's nary a bad actor in the whole lot. Honestly, I didn't even recognize Marc Maron (yes, that Marc Maron) in his role as Jerry Wexler, the brash but good-natured big cheese of Atlantic Records. And of course there's Jennifer Hudson, whom I also didn't recognize, playing our main character. I have no idea if she has ever been acclaimed for her acting prior to this film, but in any case she should be receiving all the accolades in the world for her portrayal of Aretha. Her portrayal is sympathetic, emotional, empathetic and downright heartbreaking at times. Jennifer gives one of the most striking depictions of any person I've ever seen in a biopic, and she singlehandedly makes the movie as stunning as it is.
Of course, Aretha was someone who was very indebted to faith ever since childhood, and her relationship with religion is explored heavily throughout the movie. I'm not Christian - I'm Jewish, and a fairly agnostic one at that - but I'm also the kind of agnostic Jew who can listen to Aretha's aforementioned Amazing Grace album and cry her eyes out. Because both that album and this film demonstrates how religion was not just a form of spiritual enlightenment for her - it was a means of coming to terms with the demons that followed her around since childhood, and a way of exploring and eventually finding the self-respect she had been searching for her entire life. Frankly, I don't think you need to be religious to see the beauty in that.
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