Religion is one of humanity’s great motivators. Many of people’s belief systems are framed through that lens, usually formed at a young age. So people who choose to preach can carry significant weight in their communities. And if you’re someone like Tammy Faye Baker (Jessica Chastain), that community can expand to dozens of countries and millions of people around the globe. But if you have The Eyes of Tammy Faye, all you see is your mission fulfilled, even if that mission attracts all sorts of powerful people who want to use your platform to different ends.
Tammy Faye grew up in a small town in Minnesota in the 1940s/1950s. The eldest daughter of a divorced mother Rachel (Cherry Jones), Tammy Faye grew up ostracized in her community because the churches looked down on divorce; all she wanted to do was celebrate her lord Jesus Christ. Eventually shew grew the courage to attend, which led her to North Central Bible College in Minnesota, where she met Jim Bakker (Andrew Garfield). The couple got married quickly, and started a career as traveling preachers, leading them to South Carolina, where they started a televangelist news network, and became powerful religious figures, putting them in league with other powerful televangelists Pat Robertson (Gabriel Olds) and Jerry Falwell (Vincent D’Onofrio).
Televangelists couldn’t be more perfect subjects for biopics. They’re built walking contradictions: they claim to be all about teaching the gospel of Christ, but fundamentally warp Jesus’s teachings for their own ends by teaching the prosperity gospel: if you give to the Church, riches will be passed down to you, which is frankly, bullsh*t. Director Michael Showalter is at his best when highlighting those walking contradictions, and framing them through the eyes of the woman at the movie’s center. The minute Tammy encounters any little roadblock, she goes right to prayer with God, hoping to hear from him, meaning anyone lucky enough to be near her at the time will leave a lasting impression on this impressionable person. Her relationship with Jim entirely glosses over any weird conversation or malfeasance he appears to be doing because Tammy Faye is so delighted at the life he’s helped create with her. The emotional highs of the movie come when Tammy Faye’s delusion of perfection is threatened by intense outside forces, where we see the façade she’s built start to come down, but then we pray, and the façade and delusion evolves, justifying any potentially cruel choice she’s making because she’s Tammy Faye and she’s doing the Lord’s work. By the time the movie ends, Tammy Faye’s delusion is so complete she’s completely fabricated everything about herself, including all the makeup she uses to cover her real face. The movie’s at its best when turning Tammy Faye into her own unreliable narrator (the finale is the best example of this); I wish Showalter stuck to that framing device instead of being tempted by all the crazy headlines the Bakker family created during their rise to power.
It also helps that Jessica Chastain is perfectly cast for a role equal to her acting talent. I’ll be shocked if she isn’t nominated for an Oscar. Her Tammy Faye is a complicated mess of a person that gets more and more fascinating the more time we spend with her. Chastain builds Tammy Faye’s character on a bed of insecurity manifesting an insatiable drive to become something great. Chastain shows how Tammy Faye’s drive blinds her to the reality of things happening around her: ignorance literally is her bliss. As time goes on, Chastain shows how that ignorance becomes harder to maintain as personal responsibilities get in the way of the world she’s built in front of her eyes. Props to the makeup department too for showing little by little how each new prosthetic helps keep Tammy Faye from any sort of deep introspection about herself. Helping Chastain is Andrew Garfield as her partner in crime. As a 2nd fiddle, Garfield plays whatever Tammy Faye sees him moment to moment, capturing Jim’s equally ignorant aw shucks appeal, but also holding in a multitude of contradicting feelings that are hard to hold as time goes on, making him a cruel reality check to Tammy Faye as the movie goes on.
Yes, the Eyes of Tammy Faye is Oscar Bait. But as far as Oscar bait goes, this one is totally compelling and watchable. You’ll find yourself loving, hating, laughing at, and laughing with Tammy Faye a lot, the key words being a lot, like Tammy Faye was in real life. And just like those vile televangelists are. Please think twice about donating to them; they put themselves before anyone else.