| LOOK AT ME Comme une image |
 2004 - FranceDirector: Agnès Jaoui
- Reviewed by Vickie
Berry stars as Lolita Cassard, the young aspiring and oft-overlooked singer at the heart of this delightful, multi-arc relationship film from director, co-writer and co-star Agnès Jaoui (The Taste of Others). Lolita lives in the perpetual shadow of her famous-author father, Étienne (Jean-Pierre Bacri, real-life husband of Jaoui and the film’s co-writer), and finds herself targeted for friendship (or more) by countless people using her just to get closer to her dad. Her one saving grace is her singing class, where she aims to impress her instructor, Sylvia (Jaoui), whose husband (Laurent Grévill) is also a scribe on the rise in the literary world. Desperate for attention that is hers and hers alone, Lolita clings to the remnants of an old relationship, while a sweet new suitor named Sébastien (Keine Bouhiza) attempts to woo her... with uneven results. Add to the mix Lolita’s pretty, young stepmother (Virginie Desarnauts) and you have the perfect ingredients for an eye-opening weekend away at a country home for all the players involved, which is where the bulk of the film takes place and where all the relationships are tested in some way. Some of the marketing for Look At Me is promoting it as a Love Actually type romantic comedy, set in the world of publishing. But labeling—or mislabeling it, as the case may be—in such a way diminishes its focus. Despite the fact that there are authors and agents and book deals scattered in the film, the story centers on what people do for love, what lengths they’ll go to get it, what they’ll put up with to keep it and how they sometimes realize it’s better to let go of it than to try to force it where it doesn’t belong. It’s a film about perception vs. reality, about inspiration and about the pain of being ignored. Berry (in what will no doubt be a star-making role) is fantastic as Lolita. She’s bitter, grumpy, funny, endearing, awkward and mean, all at the same time. She’s a bit like a petulant but lovable six-year-old child. Her inability to recognize the love available to her because she’s too busy pointing out the love that isn’t is almost painful to watch and there are moments where I just wanted to reach into the screen to shake some sense into her. Equally strong are Jaoui and Bacri, who both manage to convey an underlying insecurity/sadness/loneliness to their otherwise successful, attractive characters in a very subtle, understated way. The supporting players like Bouhiza and Desarnauts are also nicely distinct and well-rounded, despite comparatively shorter amounts of screen time. Jaoui does a solid job of setting the stage (literally and figuratively) for her players and then just sitting back to watch it all come together or fall apart. Nothing feels gimmicky or overly directed, just a very easy, natural unfolding of events and personalities. Yes, there are lighter elements that may feel like conventional rom-com territory but, for the most part, the film avoids cliché and tells a good story through the perfectly nuanced work of its great cast and talented helmswoman. |
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Is it just me, or does Marilou Berry—the terrifically frustrated star
of this French dramedy and daughter of actress Josiane Balasko—bear
an uncanny resemblance to Jo Frost, TV’s “Super Nanny”? Moving on...
