I couldn’t help but make a connection early in the film between Freddie Mercury’s story, especially with his relationship to his wife, Mary Austin, and Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe. It’s basically the same era and a similar, inspirational relationship.
The other thing I find interesting is the creation of greatness. We watch and read about these people (Mercury, Mapplethorpe, Smith, et. al.) because we’re fascinated by the experience of celebrity. We’ve been moved and shaped and molded because of our experiences with the work of these artists. It isn’t just that we’re intrigued by the celebrity aspect, at least I’m not, it’s that we’ve been changed because of these artists and we want to know the how and why of that. There’s something about done human having an influence over another that’s interesting. And, even more so, one artist having an influence over multitudes. Queen embodies that and the movie captures a bit of that experience. The idea that on command, Queen’s audiences performed for the artists, for themselves, for the others in attendance. There’s something really special about that. The audiences created a shared experience and a high level of performance art. So special that these guys had the power to create that.
And, yet, they also gained fame because of a chance meeting with an artist rep. How often that happens, that an artist has a moment of kismet that changes their life, that alters their life, that propels them more quickly on their journey.
My favorite quote remains words of Seneca: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” If that artist rep hadn’t been in the room at that moment I believe that there would have been another chance and another chance until the needed chance is found and interacted with. That is my deep belief. For all these famous have these chance meetings. If they hadn’t had chance in that moment, it would have come in another. We create what we want and then come into alignment with the next step.
My recommendation is to see this movie. It’s inspiring and well made and good storytelling. The music is wonderful and the actors become the characters. This is the way bio pics should be made.