Review of 99 Francs (2007) by Hugo S — 30 May 2008

99 FRANCS (2007).

Directed by Jan Kounen.

Starring Jean Dujardin, Jocelyn Quivrin, Patrick MilleIts quite surprising to think that 99 Francs is only the first adaptation of Frédéric Beigbeder's material into a long feature. In less than ten years, the man became a cult figure in litterature and Ive been wanting to see a film based on his writings for quite some time. For those who dont really know him, well, Beigbeder is kind of a mix of Boris Vian and Charles Bukovski and in the case of 99 francs it wouldnt be too much to add a little of Chuck Palahniuk and maybe even Brett Easton Ellis. Its quite something. To many people 99 francs is the ultimate Beigbeder novel, it is pretty intense indeed but not my personal favorite of his.Octave, Beigbeder's alter ego, is a shallow, hateable, selfish, drug addict and pervert publicist. He's really self-centered and doesnt care about anyone else but him. He is the one who decides what will be cool in two months and embrasses it. Things are about to change, Octave is on the verge of a breakdown, he is working on a publicity campaign for some type of yogurt, but does too much drugs for his own good. Its almost a wonder if he does it cause he likes it or simply cause he thinks it makes him look cool. He meets a young lady, gets her pregnant and ditch her only to realize he might have been in love with her. He takes more drugs, doesnt care for his job, pays a prostitue to spend some time with him, but nothing sexual. That's Octave's life, he lives it to the fullest and goes a bit too far.99 francs takes a satirical tone and for that very reason it's always over-the-top. Even though it could be sold as a comedy, its so much more than that. Its kind of a critic on materialism but also about how disgustingly overpaid all those people are for not really doing anything. Beigbeder knows his subject cause he was a publicist for ten years.Jan Kounen directs, and Im glad he didnt hire Vincent Cassell again to play Octave. Kounen is responsible for the cool cop flick Dobermaan and the messed up western Renegades, both starring Cassell. Once again he goes very stylish, he fits in Beigbeder's universe pretty well and manages to put into images what seemed to have been impossible without style. Jean Dujardin is Octave. Far from is more comedic characters from OSS 117 or Brice De Nice. He does very well with the material, growing is hair to look more like Beigbeder himself. He is intense and shows so much more talent than I ever knew he had. He carries the film perfectly and does manage to look sick when he needs to.99 francs is not really comparable to the book, especially the ending. There is a nice touch here, with some sort of last temptation sequence, its pretty clever and does feel like the ending of Martin Scorsese's Last Temptation of the Christ. Plus, it makes so much sense cause all along the film there are some subtle references to the character thinking of himself as a God-like figure.I was afraid to be disappointed with this one but in the end, its quite faithful to the book I loved, I mean in tone, the rest could have been altered and it wouldnt have bothered me. I highly recommend it to people who know Beigbeder's work, and to the others, I say start reading.