Like a live-action version of Tintin’s Bianca Castafiore, opera singing socialite Florence Foster Jenkins is an real-life example of what happens when passion and resources outstrip talent. Not so much the "Milanese Nightingale” as the "Pennsylvania pane shatterer”. Meryl Streep plays her in Stephen Frears’ new eponymous movie and Pathé has released a first-look image of her in full 1940s get-up. Click on the thumbnail for a much closer look.
The eagle-eyed will have spotted Hugh Grant’s presence in the snap too. He plays Jenkins’ partner and manager St. Clair Bayfield, the loyal aristocratic type who ushers her towards her crowning glory: a night on the Carnegie Hall stage in 1944 that prompted an unlikely stampede at the box office.
**Florence Foster Jenkins **is currently shooting the UK with Simon Helberg, Rebecca Ferguson and Nina Arianda also aboard. Tune in to Meryl Streep's **Empire Podcast **interview for more on the movie.