Jean-Philippe (2006) - film review

Fabrice is the world’s biggest Johnny Hallyday fan.  For him, a world without France’s biggest rock legend would be a world utterly devoid of meaning.  Imagine then his horror when, one day, he wakes up to find himself in a world where no one has ever heard the name Johnny Hallyday.  Incredible!  There can only be one explanation.  When he was knocked unconscious by one of his neighbours (one of the hazards of being a Johnny Hallyday fan), Fabrice’s conscious mind was catapulted into a parallel universe in which, for some reason, the singer failed to make a name for himself.  Intrigued, Fabrice tracks down his idol and finds that, in this alternative reality, he is the owner of a bowling club, Jean-Philippe Smet (Hallyday’s real name).  Having inveigled himself into Jean-Philippe’s confidence, Fabrice learns that he once had ambitions to make a career as a singer, but was prevented from doing so by a tragic combination of circumstances.  Realising that Jean-Philippe still has the talent and enthusiasm to make a name for himself, Fabrice persuades him to try for a second shot at stardom...

Johnny Hallyday and Fabrice Luchini may not be an obvious casting combination – the words chalk and Camembert spring readily to mind – but they perform surprisingly well together in this totally unhinged French comedy.  Luchini has a reputation as one of France’s most intellectual actors, more likely to be quoting Baudelaire than tapping his feet to a Johnny Hallyday number, but somehow he manages to convince us he is Hallyday’s number one fan.  Although he initially had grave reservations about playing himself in this film, Johnny Hallyday also manages to impress, even if his performance lacks the gravitas and depth that he previously brought to Patrice Leconte’s L’Homme du train (2002).  

Jean-Philippe, the third full-length film from director Laurent Tuel, is far more lightweight and frivolous than it deserves to be.  What has the potential to be quite a serious film – a satire on the arbitrary nature of stardom or a critique on our increasingly celebrity-obsessed culture – is really little more than a fantasy indulgence for Johnny Hallyday fans.  After a promising beginning, the film rapidly runs out of steam and, in the second half, it looks like the plot has managed to get itself run over and has ended up on a life-support machine.  The best jokes are all used up in the first thirty minutes and the only thing left to sustain the film to its end is the enjoyable rapport between Luchini and Hallyday.  It’s by no means a great film, but it does have some entertainment value – watch out for Benoît Poelvoorde in a cheeky cameo reprise of his Claude François look-alike from Podium (2004) – although the ones who will most appreciate it will be the Johnny Hallyday fans, of which there are legion.

© James Travers 2008

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