Falling for Figaro: Joanna Lumley Fuels This Rom-Com About Competing Talent-Show Dream-Chasers

By Thom Ernst 

Rating: B-minus

Falling for Figaro is an against-the-odds romantic comedy with enough bristle—thanks to the derisive wit of Joanna Lumley—to appeal to those who think of The Full Monty as daring and Calendar Girls risqué but will blush through episodes of Bridgerton. 

Falling for Figaro is a small story about big dreams that soft-peddles through familiar territory.  Figaro can be as fluffy as the fur on a blow-dried angora cat but it scores big on its ready-and willing-to-please charm. 

The film stars Danielle Macdonald as Millie, a woman adored by her long-time boyfriend, Charlie (Shazad Latif) and whose career as a funds manager is about to skyrocket. 

Joanna Lumley gives Danielle Macdonald high-intensity voice lessons in Falling for Figaro.

But Millie puts romance and career on hold in her pursuit of becoming an opera star. Her fate hinges on winning a yearly singing contest—a U.K. operatic version of American Idol—that pits the best vocalists against each other in a continent-wide talent search. Odds aren't in Millie's favour, but what would be the film's point if they were?  

Millie's heels-in-the-ground determination allows her to acknowledge the ridiculousness of her dream and yet forge ahead without so much as a flinch of uncertainty. It's a remarkable display of unwarranted confidence, both in Millie and in Macdonald's performance. But Millie intends to tilt the odds in her favor by hiring Meghan Geoffrey-Bishop (Lumley), a former vocal coach with a reputedly eccentric disposition.

Geoffrey-Bishop has one student, Max (Hugh Skinner), a veteran who is training for his fourth contest and last-chance-to-win - a notable plot point that pitches a somewhat conflicting allegiance for the audience. Max is the town's favourite, even if no one harbours any belief that he will win. Aside from singing opera, Max is also the local groundskeeper, handyman, and waiter in the town's only hotel/restaurant/pub where Millie happens to be staying. Complications ensue. 

PROUDLY SUPPORTS ORIGINAL-CIN

Falling for Figaro marks the return of director Ben Lewin as a purveyor of the kind of broad comedy he so fittingly fulfilled with his film The Favour, The Watch and The Very Big Fish—a film that, for me, broke a string of high-brow screenings at the 1992 Toronto International Film Festival. 

While Falling for Figaro doesn't quite tear up the boudoir in the same way I remember Jeff Goldblum and the late Natasha Richardson doing in TFTW&TVBF, it does provide an off-beat chamber-room romance with character arcs that don't necessarily transpire as expected. 

In the independent film circuit, Lewin is somewhat of an anomaly. His unassuming and contagiously affable demeanor can seem incongruous to some of his work. His film The Sessions—an unconventional comedy marked by uninhibited sexuality and nudity—premiered at the 2012 Sundance Festival to great acclaim. But 2018’s The Catcher Was a Spy, his effort to bring the true story of Moe Berg, the major league baseball player (and not the former lead singer of The Pursuit of Happiness) with a cloak n' dagger night job, made a stealthy exit straight to video. 

Not so with Falling for Figaro, where Lewin’s effortless appeal underscores every scene. 

Figaro works largely because of Lewin's talent for casting actors more suited to the roles than to any box-office appeal. As Millie, Macdonald is ideal, not because she embodies a comedic twist on an unlikely heroine, but because of the unforced way she moves within her world. There is nothing ironic nor is there anything delusional about Millie’s confidence or self-worth. And she is, without question, a formidable love interest for both Max and Charlie. 

But as good as Macdonald is, it should come as no surprise that it's Joanna Lumley who steals the show.  

CLICK HERE to see Bonnie Laufer’s interview with Falling for Figaro star Danielle Macdonald.

Falling for Figaro is directed by Ben Lewin and stars Danielle Macdonald, Joanna Lumley, Hugh Skinner and Shazad Latif.  Falling for Figaro opens in theatres and on VOD, Friday, October 1.