Comme une image (2004)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Agnès Jaoui

Writers:

Jean-Pierre Bacri (scenario)
Agnès Jaoui (scenario)

Release Date:

22 September 2004 (Belgium)

Genre:

Drama | Comedy | Romance

Plot:

A french girl gifted with a great voice, has a complex about her weight and her appearance.

Plot Keywords:

Writer | Choir | Singing Teacher | Paris France | Father Daughter Relationship

Awards:

8 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Marilou Berry	...	Lolita Cassard
Jean-Pierre Bacri	...	Étienne Cassard
Agnès Jaoui	...	Sylvia Millet
Laurent Grévill	...	Pierre Millet
Virginie Desarnauts	...	Karine Cassard
Keine Bouhiza	...	Sébastien
Grégoire Oestermann	...	Vincent
Serge Riaboukine	...	Félix
Michèle Moretti	...	Édith
Jean-Pierre Lazzerini	...	Taxi Driver
Jacques Boko	...	Bouncer
Yves Verhoeven	...	Onlooker #1
Samir Guesmi	...	Onlooker #2
Bob Zaremba	...	Guy Seen Everywhere
Roberte Kiehl	...	Conservatoire Pianist

Also Known As:

Look at Me (International: English title) (USA)
Così fan tutti (Italy)
Like an Image (International: English title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for brief language and a sexual reference.

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

France | Italy

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Taiwan:GP | Switzerland:14 (canton of Zurich) | Hungary:14 | Iceland:L | South Korea:15 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Brazil:14 | Finland:S | France:U | Germany:o.Al. | Hong Kong:IIA | Netherlands:AL | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12A | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Menades, Yonne, France

Company:

Les Films A4

Trivia:

This film contains a clip from Blood on the Moon (1948).

Quotes:

Lolita Cassard: I'm hopeless !
Sébastien: We all are...
Lolita Cassard: Yes, but me more than others.

Movie Connections:

Features Blood on the Moon (1948)

What price glory?

COMME UNE IMAGE (LOOK AT ME) is a tough little film that practically defies the viewer to love it. Rated as a comedy, it has few chuckles of the usual kind, but the smart tidy script delivers more of the Reformation-type comedy - wit with a bite. Writer/director and star Agnès Jaoui (her co-author is her ex-husband Jean-Pierre Bacri who also stars) is obviously an intelligent, observant, caustic chronicler of contemporary French society who dotes on celebrities at the expense of their own self-respect. Not a single character in this film is likable, but each one is fascinatingly interesting and a bit warped. Their interaction provides the venom that in Jaoui's hands raises the bar on the range of comedy.

Étienne Cassard (Jean-Pierre Bacri) is a famous writer whose latest novel has been 'transformed' into a schmaltzy film about which he is loathsomely embarrassed. He is caustic, acerbic, and emotionally negligent of both his grown obese daughter Lolita (Marilou Berry), who devotes her resentful life in an attempt to being a famous concert singer, and to his new wife Karine (Virginie Desarnauts) and little daughter. Lolita's music coach is Sylvia (Agnès Jaoui) whose demands on her students reflect her frustrated life being married to an unknown author Pierre (Laurent Grévill). Odd paths cross and it is through Lolita's influence as the daughter of a famous writer Étienne that Sylvia arranges for Pierre to join forces with Étienne and gain acceptance and popularity, but the consequences include Sylvia's increased tutelage for Lolita and her group of fellow madrigal singers.

Lolita comes the closest to being a character about whom we care. She is distraught about her weight, her distant father, her stepmother and stepsister, her inability to gain the affection for the boy of her dreams, her struggle to become a significant performer - all of which prevents her from recognizing the man who could salvage it all - Sébastien (Keine Bouhiza) who literally falls at her feet! All of these characters interact in complex and at times trying ways, ever cognizant of the 'authority of celebrity' and the results of these engagements form the body of the film. The acting is on a high level, the dialogue is crisp and smart, and the musical background for this mélange is a gorgeous mixture of classical music ranging from Buxtehude through Schubert ('An die Musik' plays a big role!) and many others. This 'comedy' is more intellectual than entertaining, but if wit and elegance of acting brings you joy, then this is a film to see. In French with subtitles at a long 2 hours! Grady Harp