Long before she herself served as an inspiration for comedy fans on “SNL,” Amy Poehler grew up watching “I Love Lucy,” and in “Lucy and Desi,” the multi-hyphenate pays loving tribute to the power couple behind the seminal series, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. The Sundance documentary explores the pair’s romantic relationship and creative empire.
“No one wanted [Desi] to play my husband because he was Cuban — and they wanted a real American couple,” an exasperated Ball recalls in the doc. Ball stood her ground, and starred in “I Love Lucy” alongside Arnaz for its six-season run. Besides being huge hit, the influential series is still recalled as being one of the finest comedies of all time, with Ball and Arnaz blazing a trail for women and Latinx folks in the entertainment industry. But “there was a cost to the success.” As Ball explains, “Work became our whole life.”
“Lucy and Desi” explores the complicated dynamics at play within Ball and Arnaz’s professional and private lives. “I Love Lucy” was conceived as a way for the pair to spend more time together. Arnaz had been away from home for extensive periods of time building his own career while Ball made a name for herself in Hollywood. They saw the show as an opportunity to root themselves to a place, project, and one another. But the show’s incredible success came with incredible demands, and the doc makes it clear that, as much as they loved collaborating with one another, mounting pressure took a toll on them as individuals and as a couple. Arnaz’s overwhelming schedule also played a part in him turning to alcohol to cope — another complicating factor in their marriage.
Ball and Arnaz ultimately divorced in 1960, but that wasn’t the end of their story. The pair continued to work alongside one another in official and less formal capacities, and their daughter Lucie Arnaz, who features prominently in the doc, shares a touching story about the last conversation her mother and father shared before the latter’s death. Their relationship, and the doc’s exploration of it, is full of love.
Asked what she’d like people to think about after watching the film, Poehler told us, “How impressive it was that two outsiders completely changed the face of the business, but how both would probably consider their lifelong relationship and the family they created as their biggest success. Hopefully, the film shows not only how much has changed, but how much has stayed the same, especially for women and performers of color,” the “Parks and Recreation” alumna emphasized. “Also, I would like to be reminded what a hot and powerful couple these two were, and how funny and good their work is many decades later.”
“Lucy and Desi” is now streaming on Prime Video.
