Being the Ricardos(2021)

Submitted by Julio M

Short pooper:
The “I Love Lucy” show grows to be a nationwide hit and becomes pioneering in a series of instances never-before-seen on American television -such as Lucille (Nicole Kidman) being able to openly show her second pregnancy and use the term on air- and the use of techniques such as three-camera filming. However, Lucille and Desi (Javier Bardem) see their marriage take a downturn when, after being cleared on television as a Communist, Lucille confronts Desi -with evidence- over his ongoing infidelity and he is finally forced to admit it. In the end, they divorce after the show’s finale.

Longer version:
At the height of the mounting success of “I Love Lucy” -which does not happen smoothly, since Lucille and Desi’s co-stars, William Frawley (J.K. Simmons) and Vivian Vance (Nina Arianda), detested each other and collided constantly, and Lucille’s demands kept her at odds with the rest of the production-, a revelation from well-known radio host Walter Winchell about Lucille’s alleged Communist ties threatens to end the show. Lucille does damage control by admitting that “she was young and duped into sympathizing with the Communist party”, while Desi, believing he was helping, announces “she marked the wrong box”, which leads to a bitter argument between them.

Lucille becomes pregnant with Desi Jr. and announces her intention of making the pregnancy part of the show’s storyline to the writers, who refuse to acquiesce, since this was highly considered taboo at the time and not allowed under the prevailing Television Code; eventually, she gets her way when Desi himself reaches out to the head of Phillip Morris -owner of the studio- to negotiate obtaining the permission. Meanwhile, Lucille catches wind of Desi’s many seeming escapades with other women by “staying out late for many reasons”, but he manages to show evidence that “it is all tabloid gossip”. When Frawley hints that she doesn’t let Desi have enough control of the show’s development and decisions along with her, Lucille consults Jess Oppenheimer (John Rubinstein), who, in a condescending gesture, reassures both her and Desi that “the I in the I LOVE LUCY title is Desi’s top billing”, which Desi rejects.

When a new controversy arises over a journal article that, once again, pinpoints Lucille as a Communist, Desi arranges for J. Edgar Hoover himself to call in the middle of the shooting of an episode, to reassure everyone watching and listening that Lucille Ball was not a Communist. While everyone celebrates, Lucille catches wind of a handkerchief stained in a shade of lipstick she figured out was not hers; she brings this forward to Desi and he tries to dismiss it as a mistake of hers. But then, when she produces a second handkerchief with her actual shade of lipstick she used, he is despondently forced to admit cheating on her, much to her dismay. As they resume filming duties, she is seen momentarily losing focus when Desi uses the Ricky Ricardo catchphrase “LUCY, I’M HOME!!”.

In the end, we are informed that, upon the filming of the final episode, Lucille, having had enough, decided to file for divorce from Desi, after 20 years of marriage.