Plot: Educated fleas in this vale of tears: the marriage of Cole Porter and his wife, Linda, told loosely as a three-act review with Porter watching. In act one, Porter and Linda meet in Paris, fall in love and marry with her knowledge of his being gay; on to Venice and New York, where parties, music, and their love lead him to decide to compose professionally. Act two is New York and Hollywood, where success awaits, as do an increasing number of young men who take Porter's attention from Linda and leave her lonely and apart. Act three begins with a crippling accident that brings Linda back to Porter's side, their attentiveness to each other renewed in his pain and her illness.
Alternative Plot: At the staging of a musical production based on his life story, songwriter Cole Porter (Kevin Kline) begins to reflect on his life and career. As he trades notes with the play's director, Gabe (Jonathan Pryce), Porter recollects his meteoric rise on Broadway during the mid-1920s and his first meeting with wife and muse Linda Thomas (Ashley Judd). He also recalls his many extramarital, homosexual dalliances, and the deep depression and seclusion of his final years.
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