It’s always a pleasure to watch an actor truly inhabit a role and Rami Malek’s portrayal of Queen singer, the late Freddie Mercury, is simply enthralling. For this performance alone, Bohemian Rhapsody is a film worth watching.

It tells the story of Queen, regarded as tragically unhip in their 1970s and ‘80s heyday, partly because of their impeccably middle-class origins. But their music always won through on popular appeal.

True story

Bohemian Rhapsody has the approval of the band’s three surviving members as the true story of the phenomenally successful foursome.

Respectively a trainee dentist, astrophysicist and electronic engineer when Queen hit the big time, Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor have given their full backing to the film.

It recounts how they were approach by a shy young Parsi boy Farrokh Bulsara who, with his mesmerising stage presence went on to become the one of the most unforgettable performers of rock’s golden era.

The film cleverly details the hard-won fight to release the eponymous Bohemian Rhapsody as a single, despite its six-minute length and in the teeth of opposition from the record company boss, played by Mike Myers. 

The other focus is the band’s performance at Live Aid, which came together when they reunited some years after Freddie was lured away to a solo deal.

His solo career never took off because Freddie realised he needed his band to ‘push back’ against his by-now massive ego.

Moving account

Bohemian Rhapsody is moving in its account of how even a thoughtful and intelligent star such as Freddie lost sight of reality when surrounded with bad people. 

Mercury’s drug-fuelled and promiscuous but lonely lifestyle is touched upon but doesn’t drag down the narrative of this warm and enjoyable film.