Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem star as Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in Amazon’s new drama, ‘Being the Ricardos’, directed by Aaron Sorkin.
Background
During her time Lucille Ball was America’s favorite and funniest redhead. Everyone loved Lucy for her on-screen antics, expressive facials and witty personality. Sorkin’s gives viewers a look at a tough production week for the show “I Love Lucy”, starring Ball and her husband, Desi Arnaz.
The week follows the real-life event that happened in 1953 when broadcaster, Walter Winchell dropped an unexpected bomb about Ball on his radio show: “The most popular of all television stars was confronted with her membership in the Communist Party.” Throughout the film, the Ball-Arnaz duo grapples with the potentially career-ending headlines that followed.
In their role as Lucy and Desi, Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem are blunt, edgy and incredibly demanding compared to that of their TV personalities. The iconic line “Lucy, I’m home”, proclaimed by Desi introduces the pair to the screen. After a few lines of arguing over Desi’s whereabouts, the news about Lucy brings the couple to a stop.
How It Unfolds
At the start of the film, Lucy and Desi appear as shadows and reflections on the TV screen. Close-ups of their clothes and house are the only thing taking over the screen building up anticipation for how the actors resemble the real-life stars.
In typical Hollywood fashion, the show must go on. The day after the news breaks, Lucy and Desi are thrown into the workweek at Desilu Productions consisting of table readings, blockings, run-throughs and finally, the live-taping.
Taking a calm and collected approach, the couple prepares themselves for facing the executive’s cast and crew. Playing the famous Fred and Ethel are Nina Arianda and J.K. Simmons.
Desi announces to the crew that the rumor follows Lucy’s voter registration where she accidentally checked the box with the communist party. No one but Lucy, Desi and their publicists know that this isn’t true. Lucille Ball registered as a communist at a young age but only under the influence of her late grandfather, whom she wanted to appease.
The crew believes Desi’s explanation and production week takes flight putting the rumors on the back burner. Throughout the week Lucy and Desi’s life, marriage and careers unfold.
Lucy is an off-screen perfectionist and dictator on set. She constantly overrides scripts and creative direction with ideas of her own, which most of the time make the cut due to Lucy’s persistence. Desi is president of the production set making sure that everyone - especially Lucy - is happy and occupied while he frequently takes off on unfaithful excursions with call girls.
Sorkin weaves in fake documentary-style interviews with people who worked on the series and can give accounts of their experiences on the set. Also included are black-and-white recreations from “I Love Lucy”. This is where Kidman’s acting skills are really put to the test and in a recreation of the iconic grape smashing scene, she delivers.
Adding in an additional fact to the film, Sorkin includes Lucy’s second pregnancy, when the couple fought executives to include the pregnancy in the show. It was constantly announced that “You can’t have a pregnant woman on television,” but in typical Desi and Lucy fashion they fought and got their way. In the real series, the result is Little Ricky!
Many know that Lucy and Desi had a tumultuous relationship filled with infidelity and a complicated power dynamic. The Lucy in “Being The Ricardos” effectively plays to this narrative as she is a jealous, suspicious wife and shrew actress who everyone loved despite her complex personality.
By the end of the week, news breaks further about Lucy’s relationship with the communist party. With the same story he told the cast and crew, Desi mends the rumors at the live-taping with the audience and the media there to witness. Applaud fills the set when the rumor is cleared and the show continues as planned.
Only at the end, does the audience see the eventual unfold of Lucy and Desi’s marriage when Lucy confronts Desi on his infidelity. In a clearly difficult performance for Lucy, viewers can see her hurt as she struggles to remember her lines in a scene.
Thoughts
Kidman and Bardem performed the roles well. While their resemblance to Ball and Arnaz were pretty off, they nevertheless did the two justice.
If you are an “I Love Lucy” fan, this film is a must-see. It definitely changes your perspective on the characters you see on TV versus their real-life attributes.
“Being the Ricardos” is available on Amazon Prime.
