“Be your own artist, and always be confident in what you’re doing. If you’re not going to be confident, you might as well not be doing it.”
— Aretha Franklin

Vocal powerhouse and Oscar and Grammy awards winner Jennifer Hudson stars as legendary singer Aretha Franklin in a true story about the “Queen of Soul.” Respect focuses on Franklin’s formative years, in which director Liesl Tommy says that it “contained things the general public doesn’t know about her.”

Watching her journey to become the brilliant musician with Franklin’s original songs, sung by Hudson, was profound to witness. From the beginning, we see a young woman with the most incredible voice in the world. But something was amiss. She needed to find her own voice.

In the film’s production notes, Tommy stated he felt strongly about “showing a meaningful experience of a young Black girl’s childhood.”

I found it interesting that Franklin came from a wealthy family, dominating the film primarily through her father and sisters.

Tommy related to that aspect of Franklin’s life, “As a little girl myself who grew up listening to people talk around the dinner table about fighting for freedom for themselves and for future generations, I know firsthand that it affects your life forever. It’s who you are. Aretha understood that, and it’s what made her art activism. When you talk about the “Queen of Soul,” her church was her activism.”

The movie reminds us of listening to Aretha Franklin. The emotion she sang with and deep feelings she conveyed — she spoke to us. Tommy describes it well, “Millions of people have a beautiful voice, but she channeled her emotions into her music in a way that no one else could.”

The movie tells us who she was and her history of protest music. We see Franklin heal herself through her music. You can feel the depth of who she was as a being, though there is complexity and depth based on her relationships.

As we all know, Aretha Franklin’s voice is the best, most powerful, and culturally significant voice of all time. In the movie, we hear hit songs: “Respect,” “Natural Woman,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” and “Think,” to name a few. They are classics that defined the resistance and resilience of Black people during the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Power Movement, and the Women’s Movement — and still resonate today at the moment in time where the world is in crisis and need of soulfulness.

The movie shows Franklin being a child music prodigy who grew up with great privilege in a household in Detroit that understood the importance of social protest, racial justice, and community organizing centered squarely in the foundation of the Black church — faith, service, and self-actualization. Respect shows us Franklin’s challenge in navigating and overcoming grief that would become the artistic inspiration. In return, she created musical masterpieces that saved lives and moved culture.

Respect establishes that she was a musical genius when she was a child. You discover she had all those albums that did not become hits at Columbia Records. The movie begins at the church and ends in the church with the journey in between. Tommy tells the story of a woman with the most incredible voice in the world but still doesn’t know what her voice is. “And that was the story that I felt like I wanted to tell, and that was what ended up being the center of the film, the spine of the film.”

Jennifer Hudson’s portrayal of Aretha Franklin is believable. She sings the icon’s songs herself, which is fantastic but not surprising. Hudson has a powerful voice. But she is not Franklin. She is a depiction of her.

Interestingly, Hudson was Franklin’s opening act one time. “After American Idol, Aretha Franklin was doing a show in Maryville, Indiana, and I wanted to open for her. Everyone knew she did not allow singers to open for her instead of starting her shows with a comedian. And, then, she approved of me to open for her. So, that was a dream, as are the many moments I shared with her.”

Nabbing that gig as an opening act, as Hudson says, “I find especially now; she has been a huge guide for the structure and spirit of my career.”

Franklin’s niece, Sabrina Garrett Owens, was very close to her Auntie Aretha. And very proud to see Jennifer Hudson take on the role of her aunt. “A lot of it has to do with the similarities between the two [Aretha and Jennifer]. They both grew up in church. They both had that gospel sound to their voices. Jennifer has a wide range, the same as Aretha did. I see a lot of similarities in their style.”

The story begins with her childhood, her father, played brilliantly by Forest Whitaker. Affected by his wife’s death, he anoints Franklin at a young age to be a gospel star and be different and better than the rest.

Knowing that the movie producers, Scott Bernstein and Harvey Mason, Jr. talked with Aretha Franklin on the phone about her story, so she could gauge it as her legacy is astonishing. “So, we knew we were going to end at the ‘Amazing Grace’ live album recording. The spine of the story would be a movie about a father and daughter relationship. And, that gave us a focus to tell the period of her rise, and the origin story of her becoming the ‘Queen of Soul.”’

Written for the screen by Tracey Scott Wilson, the story captures that significant time in Franklin’s life, the sixties and seventies, establishing her relationship with her father, and she meets her first husband. Then, she broke up with her father, her church and had to find her own faith.

She meets Ted White, played by Marlon Wayans. They marry. He manages her career during the early days of her Atlantic Records. “She went from singing standards to, you know, gospel to, okay, let’s go take you into becoming the R&B queen or just the queen period, Aretha Franklin,” according to Wayans. “So he changed the way she dressed and changed her, changed the venues she was playing and changed the record company. He was a catalyst in Aretha’s life.”

Jennifer Hudson shares a different perspective. “The biggest impact on Aretha’s life was her father. I think he is what pushed her towards her legacy and helped her own her gift. There have been times when she didn’t necessarily feel like singing, but it was a calling. He reminded her of that often, and I think that she became like the symbolic first lady of the church in a way. It helped lead Aretha to her ministry and music, one reason why she became so experienced and impactful at the height of the Civil Rights Movement.”

The rest of the talented cast includes Audra McDonald, Marc Maron, Tituss Burgess and Mary J. Blige.

Blu-ray and DVD Bonus Features:

The Making of Respect: Explore the unique telling of this Aretha Franklin story, what the project meant to all involved and how music played a pivotal role in crafting this film.

Becoming Aretha: Take a behind-the-scenes look at Jennifer Hudson’s incredible transformation into the “Queen of Soul” including her commitment to the character, her connection with the late singer, and why inhabiting the legendary artist felt more like destiny than anything else.

Capturing a Legacy: A celebration of director Liesl Tommy’s artistry and professionalism as the cast and crew express their appreciation and admiration for her and her process.

From Muscle Shoals: Sit down with the cast, crew and some of the original musicians that recorded with Aretha at Muscle Shoals to learn about this crucial time period in Aretha’s life and how it helped propel her evolution.

Exploring the Design of Respect: Production designer Ina Mayhew and costume designer Clint Ramos discuss the research they conducted in order to create the beautiful sets in the film as well as the various custom-made wardrobes that span three decades of style.