He film begins with a 10-year-old Aretha Franklin (Skye Dakota Turner) singing at a party at the home of her father, Rev. Clarence Franklin (Forest Whitaker). The Rev. Franklin is very controlling and unfaithful to his wife, Barbara (Audra McDonald), who left him several years before but still maintains contact with Aretha and is a musical mentor to her until she died in a car accident. We learn that Rev. Franklin can be physically abusive, that Aretha was raped as a child, and that she had two children, one of them at the age of 12.
The film then shifts to Franklin (now played by Jennifer Hudson) as a 16 or 17-year-old touring with Martin Luther King (Gilbert Glenn Brown). She soon meets Ted White (Marion Wayans), a local music producer. Unfortunately, he also is controlling and sometimes abusive. However, they eventually marry and have a child, but Aretha leaves him after he abused her on a European tour in 1968.
The film slowly follows her efforts to find her own voice despite her great insecurities. Her relationship with her father waxed and waned over the years, as did her relationships with others near to her.
The strength of this film is the music. Her trouble with relationships and her alcohol abuse is clearly portrayed. In addition, the evolution of her musical voice is engaging.
There are also weaknesses. The variety of people in the background of her life is confusing, and the abuse she experienced in the early part of her life is underplayed.
The movie is worth it for the rendition during the credits of the real Aretha Franklin's performance of "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D. C., in 2015.
The film then shifts to Franklin (now played by Jennifer Hudson) as a 16 or 17-year-old touring with Martin Luther King (Gilbert Glenn Brown). She soon meets Ted White (Marion Wayans), a local music producer. Unfortunately, he also is controlling and sometimes abusive. However, they eventually marry and have a child, but Aretha leaves him after he abused her on a European tour in 1968.
The film slowly follows her efforts to find her own voice despite her great insecurities. Her relationship with her father waxed and waned over the years, as did her relationships with others near to her.
The strength of this film is the music. Her trouble with relationships and her alcohol abuse is clearly portrayed. In addition, the evolution of her musical voice is engaging.
There are also weaknesses. The variety of people in the background of her life is confusing, and the abuse she experienced in the early part of her life is underplayed.
The movie is worth it for the rendition during the credits of the real Aretha Franklin's performance of "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D. C., in 2015.