It's 1972, and Aretha Franklin is singing for the live gospel album, now at last made into a movie, called "Amazing Grace." We all know about the voice, the one that again has audiences sobbing with heartstabbed humanity and awe. What we didn't get to do before was track Ms. Franklin's face, and now we get to think about what made her look like this.
At 29, Franklin is a major pop star, with hits such as "Respect," "Chain of Fools," "I Never Loved a Man," "Rock Steady," "Think," "Ain't No Way" and many more. She is returning to her sanctified origins, which she honors as the source of her faith, her family and her training.
If she's composing her features, she doesn't look that way. What we see when she's at rest is not exactly a mask, but the very image of humility. Her face stays almost blank, eyes staring forward, but lit from within. She's the slightest bit nervous, but at peace. When she sings, she closes those eyes, shutting out the world, the better to receive the spirit. She is a vessel.
That's one thing Aretha's stiff preacher father, C.L. Franklin, gets right when asked to speak on the second of two recording days. He admits his speech is a bad idea, then rambles on for a long time, making sure we know this moment is about God and by implication about himself, not his daughter. Later, though, as Veronica did for Jesus, he wipes the sweat from her brow, acknowledging her divine mission and his subservience.
What Aretha does is not a performance; we can see that in her face. It's one of the realest things you'll ever witness.
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The run of "Amazing Grace" has been extended at the Arclight Hollywood, the Cinemark 18 (Fox Hills) and the Laemmle NoHo 7.