Jessica Chastain is about to re-ignite the Best Actress Oscar race. The shaky vehicle “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” currently in cinemas, enables her to flaunt her thing as Tammy Faye Bakker, the televangelist with eyelashes for days and a bright outlook that no gloomy clouds could darken.
And, as both a producer and a star in the picture, Chastain has a lot to say. Tammy Faye’s tour de force tries to rehabilitate her image as a cultural parody in clown makeup. Chastain portrays her as a female warrior fighting against the male-dominated Christian right’s political politics and rejection of alternative lifestyles.
When Tammy Faye brought Jim home as her husband, it was Tammy Faye’s strict mother, Rachel (Cherry Jones), who detected something odd about him. Rachel isn’t convinced by Jim’s desire to serve God with all the conveniences that a donation plate may give.
And Jim certainly won over the crowds with Tammy Faye’s larger-than-life attitude and passionate hymn singing. Tammy Faye LaValley (Chandler Head) knew how to put on a show even as a youngster in the 1950s, writing on the church floor and speaking in tongues. Rachel was outraged, but the parishioners adored Tammy Faye, and the film depicts how much she craved their adoration.
Tammy Faye, on the other hand, should never be underestimated. Certainly not in the film. And you won’t be able to take your gaze away from Chastain, whether she’s lecturing Falwell in front of a table full of contemptuous men or stirring up the congregation with her vocal fireworks.
The domestic scenes of Tammy Faye and Jim at home show a couple interacting with the same clownish fakery they show to the cameras on their TV shows. Chastain and Garfield are talented actors, but the domestic scenes of Tammy Faye and Jim at home show a couple interacting with the same clownish fakery they show to the cameras on their TV shows. The Bakkers are built of the stiffest cardboard as a pair.
Tammy Faye died of lung cancer in 2007, at the age of 65, a shell of her former self. “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” allows Chastain to rediscover herself as a vivid force in her own right, rather than a mirror of any man or movement. That is a blessing in every sense of the term.