Respect

Respect (2021) is the Aretha Franklin biopic you can watch online on iFILM, with Jennifer Hudson stepping into the shoes of the woman who became the Queen of Soul. It traces her path from a Detroit church choir to the top of the charts.

She starts as a preacher's daughter, a small girl with an outsized gift, pushed onto stages before she's ready. The film follows the long search for her own sound: stalled early records, a smothering circle of men around her, and the breakthrough at Muscle Shoals where the real Aretha finally arrives. Forest Whitaker plays her domineering father, Marlon Wayans the husband who turns manager and then jailer. Addiction, abuse and the cost of fame are all here, unsoftened.

Directed by Liesl Tommy, the movie leans on live singing rather than lip-sync, and Hudson, personally picked by Franklin years earlier, carries it; the Academy took notice. It's for anyone who wants a music biography built on actual voice instead of a checklist of dates. Stream Respect (2021) online on iFILM.