THE BRITTANY MURPHY STORY

US, 2014, 90 minutes, Colour.
Amanda Fuller, Sherilyn Fenn, Eric Peterson, Adam Hagenbuch.
Directed by Joe Menendez.

Actress Brittany Murphy died in 2009 under sad circumstances aged 32. She had been a popular screen presence with quite a following. The death at such a young age seemed mysterious and there were some conspiracy theories. This film, made for television, is the equivalent of a fan magazine story, giving some basic information, trying to create characters, looking at the movie situation and stardom, the effect on a person, mental and physical health.

Many critics and audiences have not liked the film, especially for its appearance so soon after the actress’s death and its speculations.

On the other hand, it is fairly straightforward, starting with the press response to Brittany Murphy’s death, her mother and her husband speaking to the press, the mother breaking down.

The film then goes into flashback, starting with Brittany as a little girl, the absence of her father, the devotion of her mother which continues throughout her life, her mother her best friend, constant companion and guardian, but able to be manipulated by her precocious daughter.

Amanda Fuller plays Brittany Murphy, not like in looks, and not quite creating the powerful screen presence that the actress really had. Sherilyn Fenn is persuasive as her mother and Eric Peterson is the ambiguous photographer whom she marries, Simon Conjack. Adam Hagenbuch plays Ashton Kutcher and bears resemblance to the actor.

She performs in a play at school with her best friend, a much more glamorous child, but is asked by an advertising agent to appear in a commercial, pressurising her mother to consent. The mother is initially reluctant and wants a one-off. The commercials continue but Brittany takes acting lessons and wants to go to Los Angeles, again persuading her reluctant mother who sells cookery material from home by phone.Brittany shows what a good actress she is by an instant phone sales.

In Los Angeles, she has an agent, stars in the television series Murphy Brown, goes for an audition for a role in Clueless, thinking she has not won the role but finding that she has. She performs but is self-conscious, alarmed at being ridiculed for being pudgy, befriended by Alicia Silverstone, the star, but all the while Brittany Murphy making for comparisons with herself, her appearance.

The film shows the life of mother and daughter in Los Angeles, the response of the press, her transforming her looks, dying her hair, trying to be more glamorous – and a continuity of roles including a thriller with Michael Douglas, and a comedy with Ashton Kutcher with whom she begins a relationship. While this continues, the two seem very different and break up.

In the meantime, a British photographer, a touch larger and ungainly, befriends Brittany, helps her in some crises, warns her about the press turning against her. He continually reappears, and she begins to depend on him. They date, have a relationship – but she is warned very strongly in a restaurant by woman who reveals to her that he is a conman and financially in debt. She does not want to believe this, continues the relationship and eventually they marry.

A lawyer warns her and her mother about the truth of the accusations and he finally admits the truth. He wants to reboot her career, giving her scripts, arranging for a film to be made in Puerto Rico where they go but she is so disturbed that she is fired.

She has a heart murmur, has some dizzy spells, is on medication, and antidepressants. She does not want to see a doctor, despite her mother, and is alarmed when her husband has a mild heart attack.

Brittany Murphy was found dead on the floor of her apartment – the media had speculated that she was a drug addict but the film points out that she took only prescription and over-the-counter drugs and there was no sign of illicit drugs in her home or in her system. Her husband died some months later – leading to speculation that they had both been poisoned.

The film offers a sketch of Britain Brittany Murphy’s personality, life and career – but at a popular television movie level.