By Gary Kramer–
The fabulously entertaining documentary, Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story, opening February 28 at the Roxie, is a valentine to the iconic singer, dancer, and actress, Liza Minnelli. Director Bruce David Klein traces Liza’s life and career through interviews, film clips, and archival photos and footage, as well as comments from friends including Michael Feinstein, Mia Farrow, Joel Grey, Ben Vereen, and others. (And yes, the film acknowledges Liza is one of those rare performers who can be identified by just their first name.)
The film opens with the death of Liza’s mother, Judy Garland, which devastates her; Liza cried for eight days. But in coping with her grief, Liza learned to hone her craft as a performer. She contacted Kay Thompson to mentor her. Thompson—the film floats the idea she based her famous Eloise character after Liza—helped the young performer “find who she was,” and taught her how to live. Likewise, the famous French singer Charles Aznavour also helped Liza develop her on-stage persona.
Liza reflects on these influences with candor and appreciation in a handful of brief interviews. The film’s biggest flaw is that viewers will want more of Liza talking about her life and career, and less of other people talking about her.
Liza explains that, in her early years, her father was very inspirational, and her greatest desire was to dance. Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story then focuses on Bob Fosse and his impact on Liza. She is even seen in a clip reminding everyone that she was turned down for the role of Sally Bowles in the original Broadway production of Cabaret. Still, she secured the film role, delivering a performance that helped cement her status as a superstar.
It is fun to see Liza’s makeup artist (and longtime friend) Christina Smith talk about creating Sally Bowles’ iconic eyelashes for the film, or hear about Liza insisting Fosse wait a day to chastise her after an incident on set, because she knew him well enough to know he would say something awful in the heat of the moment and have to send her flowers the next morning.
The documentary is best when it provides such insights, and it does not shy away from addressing some of Liza’s insecurities. She had concerns about her body—Liza had scoliosis, which made one of her legs higher than the other—but she claims she “had to learn to deal with it,” illustrating her resilience. Liza also expresses her anxiety about living in the shadow of her famous mother, and the expectations that created. A segment of the film is dedicated to Liza trying to prove herself and not have to answer questions about being “Judy’s daughter.”
The film emphasizes that it may have been the one-two punch of Cabaret and Liza With a Z, her TV concert performance that won Liza her Emmy, which helped Liza establish herself as a performer in her own right. Curiously, Klein only hits the highlights of her career, glossing over her pre-Cabaret Oscar-nomination for The Sterile Cuckoo, or her last comic turn in the TV series Arrested Development. But Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story does include the anecdote about Robert DeNiro’s critique of the song, “New York, New York,” which Liza performed first in the titular Scorsese film they made together—two years before it became Frank Sinatra’s signature tune.
It would be impossible to get everything Liza into the film’s 104 minutes, but some scenes in the film feel a bit too self-serving. When Darren Criss recalls spending an evening with Liza and she enthralls him by indoctrinating him into her “gang,” it feels superfluous; the point that she was a good friend is made with her 50-year friendship with Allen and Arlene Lazare—whose children Liza is godmother to—as well as her musical collaborations with Fred Ebb and John Kander, and being the muse for Halston, the fashion icon.
Curiously, in the film’s segment on Studio 54, Liza interrupts designer Naeem Khan’s statement about quaaludes, poppers, and cocaine by claiming, “It wasn’t that wacko … and as far as drugs were concerned, nobody did drugs,” which seems patently untrue.
Liza’s personal life is also scrutinized in the documentary. According to one interviewee, “She has a lot of love to give.” The performer had four marriages and many lovers. An arresting photo of her with Ben Vereen is shown along with a rare home movie clip of the couple together that sparks interest for more information on their relationship.
In conversations about Liza’s husbands, Michael Feinstein indicates that Liza did not know her first spouse, Peter Allen, was gay until she caught him in bed with another man, which seems dubious, whereas Mia Farrow’s reservations about David Gest, Liza’s last husband, does not. But these moments stress the importance that Liza craved love and acceptance, in part because of the pressure put on her by having famous parents, and because she battled her own insecurities.
Klein is respectful of Liza throughout the film, mentioning how she wanted to have children of her own, but regrettably suffered multiple miscarriages. He also discusses Liza entering rehab for addiction—and the parallel of that to her mother’s issues—with sensitivity.
The emotional moments in Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story are compelling, but it is the photos and performances that make this film truly sing. Liza may not be the definitive portrait of its subject, but it certainly captures this showbiz legend with style, grace, and panache.
© 2025 Gary M. Kramer
Gary M. Kramer is the author of “Independent Queer Cinema: Reviews and Interviews,” and the co-editor of “Directory of World Cinema: Argentina.” He teaches Short Attention Span Cinema at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute and is the moderator for Cinema Salon, a weekly film discussion group. Follow him on X @garymkramer
Film
Published February 27, 2025
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