Le Rôle de sa vie (2004) - film review

Claire Rocher is a timid journalist, unsure of herself and incapable of hooking a man.  Elisabeth Becker is the polar opposite – a beautiful film star who exudes confidence and who is always surrounded by admirers.  When they meet, by chance, the two women strike up an immediate rapport and Elisabeth engages Claire as her personal assistant.  Almost at once, their relationship comes under strain when Elisabeth starts to bed Mathias, a young gardener whom Claire had taken a fancy to…

In his first full-length film, director François Favrat explores the complexities of human relationships, in typical Gallic rom-com fashion, within a bittersweet satire that takes a wry look at out our society’s obsession with celebrity.  The film stars two of France’s leading performers, Agnès Jaoui and Karin Viard, the one playing a self-obsessed yet vulnerable starlet (think Norma Desmond in her youth), the other a dowdy Miss Nobody.  Both actresses manage to seize our attention and our sympathy with a strikingly truthful performance, making this a film that is simultaneously poignant, thought-provoking and funny.   Jonathan Zaccaï is equally engaging as the hapless lover caught in the middle of a romantic tug-of-war and crisis of conscience, and is clearly an actor to watch out for.

© James Travers 2007


In terms of modern French Renaissance women, Agnès Jaoui has a claim as good as any.  The writer-director-actress-chanteuse excels in all four departments, so yes, it is her own voice we hear in Le Rôle de sa vie, which may best be described as All About Eve-lite or perhaps more accurately, All About Eve From A to about F. 

There are definite parallels with the Mankiewicz movie inasmuch as Jaoui's Elizabeth Becker corresponds roughly to Bette Davis’ Margot Channing, as does Karin Viard’s Claire Rocher to Ann Baxter’s Eve Harrington.  The similarities more or less end there, for whilst Margot was a stage actress, Elizabeth is a movie/TV star, and whilst Baxter’s Eve appeared out of the blue possessing neither friends, family nor job, Viard’s Claire is a successful TV journalist with a wide circle of friends.  Again, Eve Harrington manipulated Margot into employing her, whereas Claire is invited by Elizabeth to become her companion.  Whilst Eve was both ambitious and ruthless, Claire is neither - albeit sufficiently artistic to write a novel about her experience working with Elizabeth. 

The name Becker is, of course, a distinguished one in French cinema, belonging initially to director Jacques Becker and borne today by his son Jean, an equally well-regarded filmmaker.  If you are going to invoke a distinguished name, you may as well get a distinguished actress to utilise it, and that is what director-writer François Favrat has done.  This movie features some of the finest actresses in current French cinema at their best and should not be missed.

© Leon Nock (London, England) 2010 

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