What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015)

An excellently clear-eyed primer on the woman whose talent carried her from an impoverished childhood in Tryon, N.C., to the world’s most rarefied stages—and whose political defiance nearly ended her career.

Garbus's film is a portrait of a soul torn apart by forces beyond it and within it.

Garbus embraces Simone in all her multitudes and contradictions — or at least as many of them as can be comfortably squeezed into a 100-minute running time.

When Garbus lets Simone show us why she's special What Happened, Miss Simone? is successful and vital.

Away from the confessions that induce shock and the divulgences that elicit sympathy, Garbus leaves ample space for lengthy sequences of Simone's performances.