One Chance, the Paul Potts Britain’s Got Talent biopic, is resplendent with fairy tale glitter, but surprisingly, rather than the anticipated metallic aftertaste, it is rather a sweet and funny film. In One Chance, Paul’s life is compared to an opera, here is our take on the opera of Paul:
Paul Potts was an unknown amateur tenor with a boring day job until financial difficulties led him to audition for Britain’s Got Talent. When he walked onstage declaring his intent to sing opera, the audience (and the judges) seemed less than enthusiastic. Everything changed when his rendition of Puccini’s “Nessun dorma” stopped any skepticism in its tracks and brought the crowd to its feet. He went on to win the contest and embark on a worldwide performing and recording career.
The rest is history – and it is Paul’s history that inspired this film, directed by David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada) and named for Potts’ first album. Much of the narrative portrayed in the film is based on his life, which the movie-Paul compares to an opera: tragic and comic and full of passion.
In the role of Paul is James Corden (Gavin & Stacey, The History Boys), who paints the picture of a sweet, round-faced young man who manages to be both socially-awkward and exceedingly charming at the same time. Potts’ own voice is heard in most of the arias and duets – Corden lip-synched the singing parts to Potts’ voice. Alexandra Roach (Anna Karenina, The Iron Lady) portrays Paul’s sweetheart Julz, who stands by him throughout his journey.
The film’s supporting cast: Julie Walters and Colm Meaney costar as Paul’s working-class parents. His mother champions him while his father, when he can’t recognize his own hard-working, rough-hewn self in his shy and awkward son, seems to find him a disappointment. Mackenzie Crook portrays the eccentric Braddon, Paul’s boss at Carphone Warehouse, who cheers him on as he starts his career.
Opera
Paul’s passion for opera is extraordinary – it fills every part of his life, and it serves as a soundtrack for the film’s narrative. Paul woos Julz with song, breaking into Grieg’s “Ich liebe dich” in an attempt to make her forgive him after a quarrel. As a wedding gift she gives him a 1926 (fictional) recording of Turandot with Toscanini, and he translates “Nessun dorma” for her, his signature piece and the catalyst for his sudden success.
As Paul shows Julz around his childhood bedroom, Rodolfo’s Act I aria from La Boheme, in which he introduces himself to Mimi, plays in the background – a poignant chance meeting between two realistic, verismo characters. It’s the perfect accompaniment to Paul’s description of opera as “more real than real life”.
The filmmakers clearly tried to pay attention to detail wherever possible. When Paul sings Canio’s aria from Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci at a pub in Wales, he is dressed in a replica of the costume worn by Caruso at the Met in 1903. Stanley Townsend, in the role of Pavarotti is far more intimidating than Pav’s recorded master classes suggest. The visual details, though, are spot on: from the colorful scarf to the ever-present handkerchief.
The opera of Paul’s Life
When one considers Paul as depicted in the film – passionate, opera-mad, brimming with music – it seems a shame that his real-life doppelganger did not end up fulfilling his dream of singing opera. The real Paul Potts has become famous for his voice and his financial woes are gone, but he has not, as far as we can tell, made opera his career – not even in the amateur performances of his pre-Talent days.
Every music lover will relate to Paul’s great love for music, to the physical, intense, all-consuming need to resonate those beautiful sounds, to become one with music. Paul Potts may have had the opportunity to become a vessel for the music he loved so much, but perhaps the success of Britain’s Got Talent has proved to be a golden cage – he may have become a songbird, but he can’t choose the repertoire.
One Chance (UK, 103 min, 2013)
Director: David Frankel; Screenplay: Justin Zackham; Producer: Simon Cowell; Music: Theodore Shapiro; Cinematography: Florian Ballhaus; Cast: James Corden, Julie Walters, Colm Meaney, MacKenzie Crook, Jemima Rooper, Alexandra Roach.
