| BACKSTAGE |
 2005 - FranceDirector:
Emmanuelle Bercot
- Reviewed by Vickie
Isild Le Besco stars as Lucie, a teenager whose entire life revolves around her undying love for a Madonna-like singer named Lauren (Emmanuelle Seigner). When a TV show awards Lucie the chance to meet Lauren, she’s completely overwhelmed and overcome and unable to speak. But once the cameras (and Lauren) leave, Lucie becomes maniacally determined to make up for her awestruck and silent reaction by tracking Lauren down. For what? Even Lucie doesn’t know for sure. Much to her shock and awe, Lauren grants an audience and slowly allows Lucie to become part of her inner circle, both out of pity and out of her own need for having an ego-boosting sycophant around. The film tracks the symbiotic and immensely dysfunctional relationship between the two, as celebrity and fan try to interact for more than a few passing minutes. Living together becomes a revelation for Lucie, who remains an obedient servant, while Lauren – alternately caring and dismissive – remains tolerant, if distant. It’s clear this isn’t the first time Lauren’s allowed this kind of access, and it’s obvious that she does it more for herself and her own self-worth than anything else. An interesting examination of the cult of celebrity, Backstage paints a portrait of mutual need leading, not surprisingly, to an unpleasant end. The illusion Lucie has created for herself, and the delusions she cultivates, slowly dissolve the longer she stays with her idol. And Lauren, content to be adored, isn’t really picky about who it is doing the adoring. In Lucie’s eyes, Lauren is irreplaceable. In Lauren’s opinion, Lucie is quite easily disposable. The only aspect of the story that didn’t ring true for me was Lauren’s willingness to allow a fan as creepy and clearly unbalanced as Lucie into her realm, and why none of her handlers saw fit to say, “Hey, you know the scary mute girl trembling in your living room, who looks like she hasn’t slept in weeks? Shouldn’t we check her out to make sure she’s sane and unarmed?” It seemed a little too easy for Lucie to penetrate the wall of security surrounding Lauren, and to gain access to a superstar while in a state as obviously unstable as hers. While the performances from both actresses are very good, and the story compelling, my favorite thing about the movie is its kick-ass soundtrack, which features Seigner doing her own singing. She’s got a great voice and the songs could easily gain radio airplay. For her sake, though, we can only hope that life won’t imitate art when the album is released. |
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Obsessed fans take note! According to this film, there’s a remote
chance you might one day finagle your way into the life of your
favorite star, but this cautionary tale will show you that a life of
glitz and glamour isn’t all it’s cracked up to be…especially when the
object of your affection is a wildly insecure pop star with a substance
abuse problem and low self-esteem.
