“A star on a movie set is like a time bomb. That bomb has got to be defused so people can approach it without fear.” - Jack Nicholson
At the weekend we watched Agnès Jaoui’s 2004 film “Comme une Image” (“Like a Picture”, or to give it its English title: “Look at Me”). The film was co-written by the talented Ms Jaoui, who also has one of the lead roles in this interesting French film. One of the other leads Jean-Pierre Bacri is her co-writer and the tension in the film is maintained admirably by these two actors, even though it is very much an ensemble piece and a complex character study. The film received a prize for its script in the Cannes film festival.
Bacri plays the villain in this film, an utterly detestable and egotistical man, Monsieur Cassard, who is a famous and successful novelist and publisher. Cassard has a daughter from a previous marriage, the 20-year-old Lolita (Marilou Berry), who is a plump woman with a good voice. Lolita has tried to become an actress (unsuccessfully) and is now taking singing lessons, wishing to become a classical singer. To this end she is helped by Sylvia, a singing teacher (played by Jaoui), who is married to an up-and-coming but insecure writer, Pierre. The other player in the drama is Cassard’s young new wife, the slim and attractive Karine, who loves him and has given him a young daughter.
The film is essentially the story about the seriously flawed father-daughter relationship between Cassard and Lolita, with various sub-themes, all relating to Cassard’s interaction with others in his circle, and his poisonous, malign influence on everyone he interacts with. Pierre, who approaches him through the efforts of Sylvia (via Lolita), becomes rotten too. As the world seems to be falling around Lolita (who thinks she is being used by all as a means to get to her father – including her boyfriend), she meets a young man, Sébastien, who seems to be the only innocent and pure person in the film, someone not motivated by selfishness, and without a secret agenda.
The film has gentle humour, drama, much witty conversation, and situations that make the viewer feel uncomfortable, moved, irritated, sympathetic, tense, perplexed all in quick succession. The themes explored include family relationships, body image, trust, egotism, discrimination, assertiveness and of course, love. An enjoyable movie, although a little on the cerebral side…
No comments:
Post a Comment