Quand j’étais chanteur (2006) - film review

Alain Moreau is a 50-year-old singer who contents himself with performing at private functions and lonely heart dance-clubs in his hometown of Clermont-Ferrand.  One day, he meets Marion, a 27-year-old who has a young child, the result of a liaison with a man she no longer loves.  Both Alain and Marion seem to be drifting through life, uncertain where they are going or indeed what they need to be happy.  Marion, an estate agent, agrees to help Alain find his dream home, but this turns out to be a pretext for something much more personal...

With his third and best film to date, director Xavier Giannoli continues to pick up plaudits from the critics and is fast gaining a reputation as one of France’s most promising young filmmakers.  Although possibly less interesting than his previous Les corps impatient (2003) and Une aventure (2005), Quand j’étais chanteur is a well-realised depiction of a romance across the generation gap, convincingly portrayed by Gérard Depardieu and Cécile De France, well-written and stylishly directed.

Fans of the great Gérard Depardieu – of whom there are legion - will be delighted to see the actor crooning the many songs in this film entirely undubbed, and doing quite a respectable job of it.  It may only be a matter of time before Depardieu embarks on a new career as a singer....  Cécile De France is no less impressive and is perfectly cast in the part of a fragile young woman who, with one one failed relationship under her belt, seems unwilling and unable to make a fresh start.  It is her moving on-screen rapport with Depardieu that makes this film so poignant and so memorable.

© filmsdefrance.com 2009

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