| Director | Chris Moukarbel |
|---|---|
| Genre | biographical film, music documentary film |
| Runtime | 100 min |
| Country | United States |
Gaga: Five Foot Two is a documentary that follows a year in the life of American singer Lady Gaga at age 30 as she records, releases, and promotes her fifth studio album, Joanne. The film presents an intimate portrait of Gaga's personal and professional life, documenting her interactions with family members, friends, collaborators, employees, and fans. It also foregrounds her struggle with chronic pain, later identified as fibromyalgia, showing how it disrupts her daily routines, rehearsals, performances, and studio work, and tracing her attempts to manage it through treatment and physical therapy. The film juxtaposes scenes from Gaga's working life with more informal moments, including her cooking at home, sitting topless by a pool, and speaking candidly about men and the pressures surrounding her public life.
A central focus of the documentary is the creation and promotion of Joanne. Gaga is shown in recording sessions with collaborators including Mark Ronson and BloodPop, as well as with "Hey Girl" duet partner Florence Welch. The film follows several aspects of the album's rollout, including the shooting of the music video for "Perfect Illusion" in the desert, during which Gaga wonders whether fans will be disappointed by her departure from the elaborate costumes of her earlier career, getting a Joanne tattoo, the online leak of the album, and a visit to Walmart to check its placement in stores. A sequence of Gaga interacting with fans is intercut with archival footage of her earlier, more extravagant appearances, highlighting the contrast between her past image and the more stripped-back persona she adopted for Joanne.
The film also explores Gaga's emotional vulnerability during this period. It addresses the breakdown of her engagement to Taylor Kinney, her loneliness despite constant public attention, and her reflections on fame, heartbreak, and womanhood. She speaks about the ways she used performance and spectacle to reclaim control over her image, citing her 2009 performance of "Paparazzi" at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards as an example, and discusses how fame and public scrutiny have affected women in entertainment, referring to figures such as Marilyn Monroe and Anna Nicole Smith. She also expresses frustration with the power male producers hold over women in the music industry. Her family forms another important part of the narrative, particularly in scenes related to the album's dedication to her late aunt Joanne, including one in which she plays the title track to her grandmother, as well as more private moments such as attending the baptism of musician Brian Newman's daughter Sistilia, of whom Gaga is the godmother.
Alongside its focus on Joanne, the documentary includes footage of other performances and appearances, such as Gaga singing "Bad Romance" on piano at the 90th birthday celebration of her longtime collaborator Tony Bennett, performing "You and I" at an event for the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Camden, New Jersey, and delivering "Angel Down" on the rooftop of the Bitter End in New York City.}} It also touches on other facets of her life and career, including a moment of distress on the set of American Horror Story: Roanoke, in which she had a guest role, receiving balloons from Bradley Cooper in celebration of their film A Star Is Born being greenlit, and her comments on Madonna, whom she says she continued to admire despite being hurt that Madonna had criticized her through the media rather than confronting her face to face.
Another major thread is the preparation for the Super Bowl LI halftime show, which also frames the documentary. The film follows the performance from early planning meetings, in which Gaga describes the opportunity as a dream come true and expresses her desire to defy public expectations, to the day of the show, when she reflects on its significance in her career and urges herself to enjoy the moment. The documentary concludes with Gaga preparing to take the stage, while the end credits feature footage from performances promoting Joanne.