Tout ce qui brille (2010) Directed by Hervé Mimran, Géraldine Nakache
Comedy
Film Review
A bubbly amalgam of teen movie, social satire and romantic comedy, Tout ce qui brille proved to be one
of the most surprising French box office hits in 2010. Its popularity
is hard to account for, although this may be put down to its
novelty value (how many other films portray the suburbs as a cool place to hang out?)
and its superficial charms. The
basic story premise is hardly original - two feisty girls from the less
salubrious suburbs of Paris crowbar their way into the jetset by a
little mendacity, seduction and general skulduggery, with predictable
results. Think of it as Sex in
the Suburbs, French-style.
In their directorial debut feature, Hervé Mimran and
Géraldine Nakache succeed where many have failed, to take a
pretty crass concept and develop it into an entertaining film that
offers an honest reflection on contemporary attutides to social
status. The film is obviously aimed at the youth market and has
no pretensions to be anything other than what it is - a trash teen
movie which hammers out the glib message that there is more to life than
Prada. There may be some significance in the fact that the
film centres around two friends who are a Jew and a Muslim and makes no
reference to their religion. A youth culture that is racially
blind can surely be no bad thing. Tout ce qui brille is a fun little
diversion, if somewhat lacking in substance.
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Film Synopsis
Ely and Lila are like two sisters. They have known one another
since childhood and have become inseparable. They share
everything and dream of another life, far from the reality of their
present existence in the suburbs of Paris. Just how far are they
prepared to go in their attempt to gatecrash a world which is not their
own...?
From its birth in 1895, cinema has been an essential part of French culture. Now it is one of the most dynamic, versatile and important of the arts in France.
It was American film noir and pulp fiction that kick-started the craze for thrillers in 1950s France and made it one of the most popular and enduring genres.
In the 1940s, the shadowy, skewed visual style of 1920s German expressionism was taken up by directors of American thrillers and psychological dramas, creating that distinctive film noir look.
A wave of fresh talent in the late 1950s, early 1960s brought about a dramatic renaissance in French cinema, placing the auteur at the core of France's 7th art.