What's Love Got to Do with It (1993)

What's Love Got to Do with It (1993)

Controversial for its graphic depictions of abuse, this Tina Turner biopic still finds soul in its powerful performances

6.9

Movie

United States of America
English
Drama, History, Music
1993
BRIAN GIBSON
Angela Bassett, Barry Shabaka Henley, Bo Kane
118 min

What it's about

Singer Tina Turner rises to stardom while mustering the courage to break free from her abusive husband Ike.

The take

With other available resources that tell a more well-balanced story of Tina Turner's life (notably, the 2021 documentary Tina), What's Love Got to Do with It shouldn't, by any means, be used seen as the definitive portrait of the American-Swiss singer. Still, while this 1993 biopic, insists on depicting violence instead of dissecting it, there's something to be said about how uncompromisingly it shows us what an abusive relationship can look like. As a plea to see beyond the public personas of celebrities, the film makes for an effective statement—especially because of a truly despicable turn from Laurence Fishburne, and the power that steadily builds within Angela Bassett.

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