Film Review
Perhaps the most noticeable cultural phenomenon of the last decade has
been the explosion in reality TV talent shows offering desperate
wannabes the chance of immediate stardom. Now, it seems, almost
everyone thinks he or she can be a national celebrity, whereas the
reality is that only a microscopically small proportion will get lucky
and achieve more than their allotted fifteen minutes of fame. In
his first full length film,
La Vie
d'artiste, director Marc Fitoussi explores this latest
get-famous-quick fad with a typically Gallic mix of humour and irony,
and convinces us that the pursuit of stardom is perhaps not all that it is
cracked up to be.
At a time when many aspiring young filmmakers (particularly those
who hold a French identity card) are departing in ever greater
numbers from the classical film form and pursuing stylisation to the
Nth degree, Fitoussi's mise-en-scène is refreshingly
unpretentious - conventional yet subtly distinctive. Smooth
transitions between scenes (so smooth that it takes a few seconds to
register that a transition has actually taken place), humour that
borders on the surreal without being ridiculous and a pleasing symmetry
in the narrative construction appear to be the distinguishing
characteristics of this likeable new filmmaker.
La Vie d'artiste may not be
brimming with originality, but it is far from mundane. Indeed,
there is an elegance to its simplicity which is extremely seductive,
and which Fitoussi's contemporaries would do well to learn from.
It naturally helps that the film has an attractive cast that is
headed by some of French cinema's most talented actors
today. Neither Sandrine Kiberlain nor Denis
Podalydès is stretched too far here (the film's one shortcoming
being the slight superficiality of the characterisation), but both give
credible performances which realistically convey the hopes and
frustrations of two creative types who have neither luck nor talent
to help them succeed. (Anyone hoping for a Hollywood-style happy
ending will probably not like this film.) Émilie
Dequenne is even more impressive as the film's most true-to-life
character, and not just because we get to see her running about like a
headless-chicken dressed in a hungry hippo outfit (although it
does help).
The distinguished supporting cast includes such remarkably
well-preserved relics from the French New Wave as Claire Maurier
(Antoine Doinel's mother in Truffaut's
Les 400 coups) and Jean-Pierre
Kalfon (the ill-fated stage director in Rivette's
L'Amour
fou). In a way,
La
Vie d'artiste feels a bit like a tribute, if not a throwback, to the Nouvelle Vague,
not because it apes the extreme stylisation of Godard and the more
avant-garde filmmakers of that period, but because it evokes something
of the exuberance and playfulness that we find in the early films of
Truffaut and Rohmer, exuberance tempered by the cold kiss of mocking
reality.
La Vie d'artiste is the kind
of French film that can hardly fail to please a home and an
international audience. What the story lacks in originality, it
more than makes up for in charm and good humour, and the presence of so
many high-calibre performers, for once, does not disappoint.
Witty yet moving, the film offers a well overdue reflection on our
society's obsession with individual celebrity and happily reminds us
that there is much, much more to life than instant fame.
© James Travers 2010
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Film Synopsis
Three people in search of fame and fortune... Alice has ambitions
of becoming a well-known actress but must content herself with lending
her voice to a character in a Japanese cartoon. Unable to find
the inspiration for his second novel, Bertrand ends up working as a
schoolteacher. Cora, meanwhile, is determined to make it as a
singer, but for the time being she must work in a karaoke bar.
Will any of these three get to realise his or her dreams...?
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.