She is one of the most famous jazz singers in history, a jazz legend with a tragic destiny that has inspired the silver screen. From brothel-keeper to music icon, Billie Holiday marked her era with her inimitable voice and her commitment to defending black people against the brutal racism in the United States of America. We will take you back to the best movies and documentaries on the inspiring Lady Day to review.
Lady Sings The Blues (1972)
In this film by Sidney J. Furie, one legend plays another as the role of Billie Holiday is played by Diana Ross who made her screen debut to take on the role. She delivers a dazzling performance in the role of the young singer, keeper of a brothel, and victim of rape who falls into prostitution before rebounding as a singer in cabarets where she is a sensation with her outfits and an unparalleled stage presence. But it is in the tragedies that surround her that she will draw her most beautiful works.
Billie (2020)
This unseen documentary traces the tragic destinies of the jazz icon and the American journalist Linda Kuehl, passionate, even obsessed, by the singer with a troubled past. Kuehl spent years gathering more than 200 hours of audio testimony from Lady Day's family and friends in order to write a biography, a biography that was never published because Kuehl mysteriously died before it was completed. The British director James Erskine found these recordings in a collector's home and built his documentary around these treasures that depict a Billie Holiday, between light and shadow, disturbing at the time, for her diva whims but especially for her stance against racism and the treatment of black people in the United States. Her chilling song Strange Fruit, which we rediscover in a colorized performance, embodies her courageous fight to denounce the execution, in silence, of this minority.
DVD/BRD and Prestige Edition, 14.99 euros, available on Amazon
The United States vs. Billie Holiday (2021)
It's one of the most dazzling performances of this year: that of Andra Day playing Billie Holiday in Lee Daniels' new film, the United States vs. Billie Holiday. And although it's hard to believe, this is the first major role of her career, which has already won a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination. The film depicts Holiday's struggle with her addictions, acquired from the abuse inflicted by her companions throughout her life, coupled with the tender, albeit imaginary, relationship she forms with Jimmy Fletcher (Trevante Rhodes), an undercover FBN agent tasked with watching her.
Translated by Abdel Benakki
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