CANNES -- Agnes Jaoui's "Comme une image" (Look at Me) is a film about people so caught up in themselves that they have a hard time relating to the people around them. The film was written by Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri, both of whom play major roles, so this is very much an actor's film. Their drama relies heavily on dialogue and the nuances each cast member brings to his or her part. In her second feature as a director, Jaoui has crafted an appealing character study that should ensure playdates here in France and throughout Europe.
The central figure is Lolita (Marilou Berry), a young woman very self-conscious about a body that doesn't look like the thin women she sees in advertisements on TV and in magazines. She puts considerable energy into singing lessons and into trying to gain her father's attention. Lots of luck -- for her dad, Etienne (Bacri), a successful author and publisher, is about as self-absorbed as they come. He lives with his second wife, Karine (Virginie Desarnauts), a young and beautiful woman whose presence only increases Lolita's insecurity.
Lolita's singing teacher, Sylvia (Jaoui), is also married to a writer, Pierre (Laurent Grevill), who is plagued by self-doubts. But Etienne admires Pierre's writing enough to arrange for the couples to meet, and soon Sylvia and Pierre are a part of Etienne's circle of friends.
At the heart of the drama is the question of image. Lolita worries about her body size, a concern only reinforced by her dad's habit of calling her "my big girl." The writers worry about how they come across in public and how others respond to their work, while the women worry about being overlooked, even taken for granted. Everyone is so inwardly focused that he or she fails to heed the emotional needs of others close to them.
The movie is set in the familiar microcosm of Paris bourgeois society so that Jaoui and Bacri can examine the ebb and flow of power among the couples and between father and daughter. While this is not new territory, the observations are sharp, the acting is superb, and the dialogue is rich with irony and biting subtext.
Comme une Image
Les Films A4 presents
Credits:
Director: Agnes Jaoui
Screenwriters: Jean-Pierre Bacri, Agnes Jaoui
Producers: Jean-Philippe Andraca, Christian Berard
Director of photography: Stephane Fontaine
Editor: Francois Gedigier
Cast:
Lolita: Marilou Berry
Etienne: Jean-Pierre Bacri
Karine: Virginie Desarnauts
Sylvia: Agnes Jaoui
Pierre: Laurent Grevill
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 110 minutes...
The central figure is Lolita (Marilou Berry), a young woman very self-conscious about a body that doesn't look like the thin women she sees in advertisements on TV and in magazines. She puts considerable energy into singing lessons and into trying to gain her father's attention. Lots of luck -- for her dad, Etienne (Bacri), a successful author and publisher, is about as self-absorbed as they come. He lives with his second wife, Karine (Virginie Desarnauts), a young and beautiful woman whose presence only increases Lolita's insecurity.
Lolita's singing teacher, Sylvia (Jaoui), is also married to a writer, Pierre (Laurent Grevill), who is plagued by self-doubts. But Etienne admires Pierre's writing enough to arrange for the couples to meet, and soon Sylvia and Pierre are a part of Etienne's circle of friends.
At the heart of the drama is the question of image. Lolita worries about her body size, a concern only reinforced by her dad's habit of calling her "my big girl." The writers worry about how they come across in public and how others respond to their work, while the women worry about being overlooked, even taken for granted. Everyone is so inwardly focused that he or she fails to heed the emotional needs of others close to them.
The movie is set in the familiar microcosm of Paris bourgeois society so that Jaoui and Bacri can examine the ebb and flow of power among the couples and between father and daughter. While this is not new territory, the observations are sharp, the acting is superb, and the dialogue is rich with irony and biting subtext.
Comme une Image
Les Films A4 presents
Credits:
Director: Agnes Jaoui
Screenwriters: Jean-Pierre Bacri, Agnes Jaoui
Producers: Jean-Philippe Andraca, Christian Berard
Director of photography: Stephane Fontaine
Editor: Francois Gedigier
Cast:
Lolita: Marilou Berry
Etienne: Jean-Pierre Bacri
Karine: Virginie Desarnauts
Sylvia: Agnes Jaoui
Pierre: Laurent Grevill
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 110 minutes...
CANNES -- Agnes Jaoui's "Comme une image" (Look at Me) is a film about people so caught up in themselves that they have a hard time relating to the people around them. The film was written by Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri, both of whom play major roles, so this is very much an actor's film. Their drama relies heavily on dialogue and the nuances each cast member brings to his or her part. In her second feature as a director, Jaoui has crafted an appealing character study that should ensure playdates here in France and throughout Europe.
The central figure is Lolita (Marilou Berry), a young woman very self-conscious about a body that doesn't look like the thin women she sees in advertisements on TV and in magazines. She puts considerable energy into singing lessons and into trying to gain her father's attention. Lots of luck -- for her dad, Etienne (Bacri), a successful author and publisher, is about as self-absorbed as they come. He lives with his second wife, Karine (Virginie Desarnauts), a young and beautiful woman whose presence only increases Lolita's insecurity.
Lolita's singing teacher, Sylvia (Jaoui), is also married to a writer, Pierre (Laurent Grevill), who is plagued by self-doubts. But Etienne admires Pierre's writing enough to arrange for the couples to meet, and soon Sylvia and Pierre are a part of Etienne's circle of friends.
At the heart of the drama is the question of image. Lolita worries about her body size, a concern only reinforced by her dad's habit of calling her "my big girl." The writers worry about how they come across in public and how others respond to their work, while the women worry about being overlooked, even taken for granted. Everyone is so inwardly focused that he or she fails to heed the emotional needs of others close to them.
The movie is set in the familiar microcosm of Paris bourgeois society so that Jaoui and Bacri can examine the ebb and flow of power among the couples and between father and daughter. While this is not new territory, the observations are sharp, the acting is superb, and the dialogue is rich with irony and biting subtext.
Comme une Image
Les Films A4 presents
Credits:
Director: Agnes Jaoui
Screenwriters: Jean-Pierre Bacri, Agnes Jaoui
Producers: Jean-Philippe Andraca, Christian Berard
Director of photography: Stephane Fontaine
Editor: Francois Gedigier
Cast:
Lolita: Marilou Berry
Etienne: Jean-Pierre Bacri
Karine: Virginie Desarnauts
Sylvia: Agnes Jaoui
Pierre: Laurent Grevill
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 110 minutes...
The central figure is Lolita (Marilou Berry), a young woman very self-conscious about a body that doesn't look like the thin women she sees in advertisements on TV and in magazines. She puts considerable energy into singing lessons and into trying to gain her father's attention. Lots of luck -- for her dad, Etienne (Bacri), a successful author and publisher, is about as self-absorbed as they come. He lives with his second wife, Karine (Virginie Desarnauts), a young and beautiful woman whose presence only increases Lolita's insecurity.
Lolita's singing teacher, Sylvia (Jaoui), is also married to a writer, Pierre (Laurent Grevill), who is plagued by self-doubts. But Etienne admires Pierre's writing enough to arrange for the couples to meet, and soon Sylvia and Pierre are a part of Etienne's circle of friends.
At the heart of the drama is the question of image. Lolita worries about her body size, a concern only reinforced by her dad's habit of calling her "my big girl." The writers worry about how they come across in public and how others respond to their work, while the women worry about being overlooked, even taken for granted. Everyone is so inwardly focused that he or she fails to heed the emotional needs of others close to them.
The movie is set in the familiar microcosm of Paris bourgeois society so that Jaoui and Bacri can examine the ebb and flow of power among the couples and between father and daughter. While this is not new territory, the observations are sharp, the acting is superb, and the dialogue is rich with irony and biting subtext.
Comme une Image
Les Films A4 presents
Credits:
Director: Agnes Jaoui
Screenwriters: Jean-Pierre Bacri, Agnes Jaoui
Producers: Jean-Philippe Andraca, Christian Berard
Director of photography: Stephane Fontaine
Editor: Francois Gedigier
Cast:
Lolita: Marilou Berry
Etienne: Jean-Pierre Bacri
Karine: Virginie Desarnauts
Sylvia: Agnes Jaoui
Pierre: Laurent Grevill
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 110 minutes...
- 5/17/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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