Review of Look at Me (2004) by Shawne ~ — 04 Dec 2004

It's a darn shame when you go into a movie expecting more from it than you really get. Word of mouth for [b]Comme Une Image[/b] has been sizzling hot; I'd read some reviews even though I hadn't really delved too much into plot and character to avoid getting spoiled. Slice of life, I heard--a movie made up of small, seamless vignettes detailing the attempts by the unfortunately-named Lolita (Marilou Berry) to get the attention of her ever-busy, dismissive father Etienne Cassard (Jean-Pierre Bacri). So the movie takes great pains to establish that no one looks at Lolita (hence the surprisingly more apt but shockingly badly-translated English title, [i]Look At Me[/i])[i]. [/i]When lunching together, her father always seems to see right through her, and his compliments always thrill her... until she realises they're directed at other people, including her baby sister from her dad's second young-enough-to-be-her-sister trophy wife. She seeks solace in her singing, and tries to win the approval of her singing teacher Sylvia Millet (Agnes Jaoui). Even so, she's crushed that just about everyone who meets her only wants to befriend her so they can get to her dad, even Sylvia. Her paranoia quickly extends to the relationships in her life, and she drives away oddly steadfast Sebastien (Keine Bouhiza) in her firm belief that all he wants is favours from her father.

It's a complicated little story, and told quite well by acting/writing/directing couple Bacri & Jaoui--there are some gems in the clump of vignettes shown, including Sylvia's embarrassed silent double-take when Lolita confesses how upset she is that everyone's using her for her parental connections. Unfortunately, the problem is exactly that the story is too little to warrant such extensive, sprawling treatment. The script, while good (it earned a Best Screenplay nod at Cannes this year, apparently), isn't focussed enough--is it aiming to make out that Etienne is an out-and-out villain? He's really quite the arsehole, and his redemption is suddenly effected in a final scene where he doesn't say anything much to his attention-craving daughter? Nor is the character of Lolita very sympathetically drawn, which is a problem. To make the audience really care about the issue and characters at hand (it is, after all, about a privileged little brat who wants her daddy to notice her), it's fine for Lolita to be a bit uptight. But the bundle of neuroses she is in this film? Grating and slapworthy. (Take the night she demands Sebastien get up to check out the night noises she's terrified by. And most other pouty scenes.) That Lolita, too, effects a sudden change in attitude towards Sebastien [i]just because[/i] she finds out he didn't take a job from her father, is just too one-dimensional to make me believe that watching the movie was worth it to find out more about this girl's life-journey.

Shame. Too much cliche, with its few genuinely funny, well-observed moments slipping into a morass of shallow characterisation. Acting wasn't bad--I like Jaoui in her role, and Bacri was excellent as the brash, uncaring Etienne.