Paparazzi (1998) - film review

When Franck Bordoni finds himself inadvertently on the front cover of a popular magazine he loses his job as a night watchman.  The photograph was taken whilst Franck was enjoying himself at a football match instead of being at his place of work.  Intent on punishing the photographer who cost him his job, Franck visits the magazine’s offices and ends up in the company of Michel Verdier, an unscrupulous member of the paparazzi pack.  To Michel’s annoyance, Franck clings to him like a limpet, fascinated by his work and eager to serve as an apprentice.  As he immerses himself in his exciting new life (and Isabelle Adjani’s dustbins), Franck hardly notices his former life disappear – including his wife and young son…

After his first film, a totally off-the-wall comedy entitled Cité de la peur (1994), director Alain Berberian was approached by producer Alain Sarde with the idea of making a film about the paparazzi.  This was well over a year before the death of Lady Diana in Paris in August 1997, demonstrating that antipathy towards sensation-seeking photographers was rife way before their possible complicity in this tragic event was suggested.  When the film was released (in April 1998), “paparazzi” was a very dirty word indeed.

In contrast to most of Berberian’s films to date, Paparzzi is a well-paced, intelligent comedy which appeals at many levels.  There is a certain amount of the usual juvenile comic hi-jinks (of the kind that rendered Berberian’s subsequent film, Le Boulet, trite and tedious) but generally the comic situations pay off and a few are genuinely very funny.  The comedy works well because the film’s two stars, Vincent Lindon and Patrick Timsit complement each other beautifully, making a natural comic double act, reminiscent of other great French film partnerships (for example Gérard Depardieu and Pierre Richard).  Lindon’s experience and reputation as a serious dramatic actor is primarily what allows the film’s second, and most satisfying, level to function – a scathing satirical comment on the world of the paparazzi.

The plethora of jokes does not hide the fact that the film has a serious underbelly, which shows itself unambiguously in the film’s second half.  The paparazzi existence is ultimately shown to be as destructive to the lowlife that take the photographs as to the victims they persecute. It would have been nice if this point had been driven home more firmly, but the ironic ending just about does the job, without resorting to clumsy moralising or misplaced sentimentality.

Overall, Paparazzi is a satisfying film which, whilst not a masterpiece of social commentary, makes some worthy statements on the sad time in which we live.   A round of guest appearances from some very famous stars provides an expected bonus.  But do we really get to see what Isabelle Adjani puts in her dustbins…?

© James Travers 2004

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