Lorna Irvine reviews 'a subtle, laugh-out-loud film with more unexpected twists than prime Hitchcock'.
There's a famous adage that goes: never meet your idols. Jeanne Herry's classy comic thriller demonstrates why, with jaw-dropping results.
When oily crooner Vincent Lacroix (Laurent Lafitte) accidentally kills his girlfriend Julie (Lou Lesage) with one of his awards during a heated exchange, his reaction is strange to say the least--he visits one of his most obsessive fans, divorced mum of two Muriel Bayen (Sandrine Kiberlain) and asks her to dump the body. Muriel, a fan for years and known to Lacroix and all his security guards, adoringly accepts--but it doesn't quite go according to plan.
It's a wonderful satire on the corrosive nature of fame. Lafitte plays Lacroix beautifully, a man who has been indulged to the point of having a somewhat tenuous grip on reality. His relationship with the gullible, good-hearted Muriel is nicely handled, never falling into bunny-boiler cliché.
Lacroix is never heard singing, which is possibly just as well as he comes across as part John Travolta, part John Barrowman, and it also adds to his mystique.
Meanwhile, the cops on his case, Antoine (Pascal Demolon) and Coline (Olivia Cote), are themselves struggling with love woes, as ragged Antoine accuses his flirty partner of going with other men. Both have excellent comic timing--even if Demolon does disconcertingly resemble Stone Roses/Primal Scream's Mani at times.
A subtle, laugh-out-loud film with more unexpected twists than prime Hitchcock. Absolutely superb, and one that keeps the audience on their toes right up to the end.
Dir: Jeanne Herry, 2014,France, 1hr 44mins
Trailer with English subtitles: http://youtu.be/2XNDcAP5W7k
RSS