Lifetime
Lifetime ends its ‘Voices of a Lifetime’ series of films with another Reader’s Digest condensed life story, this time focusing on disco legend Gloria Gaynor and produced by Robin Roberts. Anyone interested in Gaynor’s life has surely read her biography by now, or has watched the Lifetime documentary, Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive. So as not to confuse the doc with the scripted drama, Lifetime has just swapped the title around for this film, I Will Survive: The Gloria Gaynor Story … which gives the impression that Miss Gaynor was a one hit wonder (an alternate, and perhaps better title could have been I Am What I Am: The Gloria Gaynor Story, referencing her other big club hit).
I Will Survive: The Gloria Gaynor Story finds the singer, portrayed by Broadway star Joaquina Kalukango, just at the start of her career, supported by both her mother and sister. Just as she gets her big break, mother dies and the sisters lean on each other for support, with Irma always championing Gloria. After a nightclub performance, Gloria is approached by an agent ready to bring her talents to the world beyond what was then referred to as the ”Chitlin’ Circuit’, a collection of performance venues found throughout the eastern, southern, and upper Midwest areas of the United States that sustained black musicians and dancers during the era of racial segregation from the 1930s to the 1960s. Gloria does not look down on the opportunity she has been afforded, saying if the Chitlin’ Circuit was good enough for Ella Fitzgerald, it’s good enough for her. But she takes the man up on his offer to further her career, and he introduces her to a band called City Life, and together they cut a demo for the song ‘Never Can Say Goodbye’ which generates enough interest from a record label to sign her and produce the song … not with City Life but with a 30-piece orchestra (even though the band gets credit for the arrangement). Though rubbed the wrong way, and understanding that decision was out of Gloria’s control, they put it behind them and keep performing.
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Gloria always dreamed of being married to the man of her dreams, and she seems to have finally found him in the form of Linwood Simon. They seem to have a great partnership, with Linwood urging Gloria to read her new contract before signing it, which ruffles her agent’s feathers to the point that she up and fires him, making Linwood her manager. Looking for another hit song so she isn’t a one hit wonder, Linwood wants her to cover a song by a British group called ‘Substitute’, which she dislikes because of its story of a woman willing to be a man’s substitute for his wife. But she relents but wants a good B-side and she meets with a songwriter for Diana Ross, who has an older song that he could not find the right artist for … and this one is written from the viewpoint of a woman who has had enough of her cheatin’ man. That song, ‘I Will Survive’, becomes a major hit after Gloria takes it to all the DJs and clubs in New York herself, and the label re-issues the single with it as the A-side. Gloria and Linwood marry and all seems well until she falls off a stage and severely injures her back. But she is back to work after two years, touring Europe but feeling the stress of Linwood’s constant scheduling of concerts. Gloria is exhausted and stressed, and after putting her foot down Linwood abandons her, but she has to keep performing because he’s spending her money faster than she can make it. After becoming disoriented in Russia, her friend and assistant Stephanie gets her home where she discovers what Linwood has been up to, putting further strain on their marriage. Stephanie helps Gloria find another hit song, ‘I Am What I Am’ (which is from the Broadway musical La Cage aux Folles, which goes unmentioned in the movie, and the movie uses the controversial slight rewrite Gaynor made years later adding God to the lyrics) and she is riding high again until another tragedy befalls her. It’s not until God speaks directly to her that Gloria finds the path that she was looking for — gospel music. But will this sudden change of genres help or hurt her career, possibly alienating her disco and R&B fan base?
I Will Survive: The Gloria Gaynor Story is a decent biopic, nicely produced by Robin Roberts. The production certainly nails the different eras of Gaynor’s career, but the screenplay by Njeri Brown and Jane Espenson (a writer known more for her genre work in projects like Battlestar Galactica, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Once Upon a Time, Jessica Jones, The Nevers and Foundation) is never really compelling enough for the audience to think ‘wow, what a hard life she had’. The worst thing Gloria endures in this story is the stage fall, and all we see of that is a brief scene in the hospital, a brief scene at home with her sister and physical therapist, and a text card that says ‘Two Years Later’ and she’s back on her feet ready to perform, with some minor back pain if she’s on her feet too long (and who hasn’t experienced that). Seeing a bit more of her struggles during that time might have allowed us to be more sympathetic, perhaps allowing us to see a little more of the dynamic between Gloria and Linwood. Instead he’s off somewhere but we get some nice moments with Gloria and Irma instead. Then the worst thing that happens with Linwood is he becomes a prick and continues to influence Gloria’s decisions — and girl, why did it take until 2000 for you to finally dump his ass, especially after dumping you in Russia?! — but God himself speaks to her and gives her the kick in the butt she needs. Unfortunately Gloria suffers one last tragedy that is quickly dispatched with in one quick, but emotional, scene. Other than that, we’re left to believe her life wasn’t all that much more dramatic than any of ours. At least director Alicia K. Harris makes things visually interesting, and the costume, hair and makeup team did their homework to take Gloria through the decades.
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Where the film succeeds, and is saved from a bland one-star review, is in the performance of Kalukango. If you’ve looked at any recent YouTube videos of her and Gaynor hyping the film, you can really see a family resemblance. She really does give an Emmy-worthy performance, using her eyes, her facial expressions and her body language to show us what Gloria is experiencing. What really sets Kalukango’s performance apart from other biopic performances where someone is playing a famous singer is that she is actually singing, and singing live instead of lip-syncing to pre-recorded vocals. No one can sound exactly like the real Gaynor, but her performance is still electrifying. You don’t hire a Broadway musical star and not let her sing, and this was certainly the best decision anyone with the production made. Brava!
Lance Gross is also terrific as Linwood, but whether it’s because of his performance, or how he was written or directed, we as an audience always have the feeling that despite how much he seems to have invested in Gloria’s career, that other shoe is going to drop and Linwood will be revealed for who he truly is. Of course we are left to question if his motives were always to hype Gloria’s career simply for his own benefit, or if her wealth and fame corrupted him. Even when he urges her to not sign her contract, there just seems to be something going on (perhaps he always planned to drive her away from her agent knowing she would give him the job since he also represented her back-up singers). It is a good performance, no doubt, but the movie paints Linwood as very black-and-white with very little gray area.
Pendo Muema is outstanding as little sister Irma. Muema really makes us feel the bond between the sisters, she’s always in Gloria’s corner, and she isn’t afraid to tell Gloria what she thinks. She supports her sister but she also never puts herself in second place. She has her own life, but her shoulder is always there for Gloria to cry on, and she is always the first to remind Gloria that she is the star she always wanted to be. Muema just lights up the screen whenever she’s on (although it’s curious that she has the same pair of glasses for thirty years). Francesca Bianchi is also very good during her brief time as Stephanie, a friend who can see that things aren’t great between Gloria and Linwood, but also an employee who doesn’t want to overstep her bounds. What she is basically another sister, always there for Gloria when she needs her, not afraid to question Gloria’s decision, making us feel that these two women have known each other for years.
It’s hard to find much fault with I Will Survive: The Gloria Gaynor Story. It’s handsomely produced, the period detail is spot on, and the performances are exemplary. It’s just, as written her, Gloria Gaynor’s story isn’t as dramatic as one would expect (although the film skips over her sexual abuse, financial ruin after her divorce, and major health issues, not to mention the complete erasure of her brothers from the story). If nothing else, it’s well worth seeing just for Kalukango’s stellar performance. If you want the full Gloria Gaynor story, check out the documentary that is also available on Lifetime.
I Will Survive: The Gloria Gaynor Story has a run time of 1 hour 27 minutes, and is rated TV-14.
Official Trailer | Robin Roberts Presents I Will Survive: The Gloria Gaynor Story
Lifetime