Mentiras y traiciones

Everyone plays well in this silly rom-com that showcases the bemused Edouard Baer dealing with the two charming Parisiennes in his life. Only the director was at fault for generating yet another script about a writer, as if there had not already been several hundred of vastly varying quality. Still, the basic situation is amusing enough, a ghostwriter (negre in French) is all style and literally no content. When a star footballer starts dictating that "his" autobiography is to be written in the style of Baudelaire, Raphael (Baer) starts to rebel, and his own creations come into play, kicked to life by his two lovely women. His friends, who are little more than caricatures, illustrate failed creativity and at last Raphael manages to come up with something real that gets good press, if not great sales. The final flourish, however, goes to Marie-Josee Croze's character and the film ends on a mellow note that is bound to please the ladies. Altogether a good audience-pleaser with some decent laughs that is highly recommended. One note: following the trend, neither of the leading ladies, nor M. Baer, removes any of their clothes.

God did I laugh all the way through this movie ! I just loved, loved, loved it. I agree it is not as profound as a Woody Allen feature, nor will it be remembered as a masterpiece in sociological studies, but this enchanting comedy manages to be funny and heartwarming without taking the audience for granted. I bet anyone over 30 will recognize something about him/her self in the characters.

Raphael (Edouard Baer, France's answer to Hugh Grant) is in his mid thirties. He's writing famous people's autobiographies -- and obviously his name never appears on the book's sleeve. And he's fine with that. His girlfriend, Muriel (Marie-José Croze, a character actress with girl-next-door appeal) doesn't understand his reluctance to publish his own works under his name : what is he hiding from and what exactly is he scared of ? One day, Raphael's boss assigns him to write the biography of a dumb, ultra famous football player, Kevin (Clovis Cornillac, hilarious). When Raphael realizes that Kevin's girlfriend is his former college flame, Claire (Alice Taglioni, playing the high powered bitch you can't help falling for), things go reaaaaaally ugly... and incredibly funny. Add to that Raphael's two buddies, neo hippie Jeff (Eric Berger) and yuppie Max (Jean-Michel Lahmi), and you've got a movie that's really hilarious in its depiction of french thirtysomethings searching for the true meaning of their lives.

The film has already been despised by some movie critics and intellectuals who wrote in their columns that the situations are so exaggerated that they build an unbreakable wall between the movie and the audience. But that's the point of a farce, actually. And when deep within the farce and the absurdity of the comic situations you can still be moved and you still recognize yourself, then the director's won the game. And I totally surrender to Laurent Tirard (the director)'s talent : the movie's a knock-out, albeit a funny one.

Laurent Tirard is a capable comedy director who can give us gags and a little sorrow along the way. The story is a little thin--can we really care that much about the travails of a ghostwriter and his brainless, egotistical subject?--but the manner of telling it is engaging, and the performances are all good. I have been a fan of Edouard Baer since Betty Fisher et autres histoires, in which he played a really resourceful crook, a man who was able to sell his mistress's house without telling her he was doing it, and pocket the proceeds. Baer doesn't have a great range (all the way from A to B, passing by C) but his dishevelled charm carries him all the way through the picture. He reminds me a little of a French Gig Young, high praise.

Marie-Josee Croze is so versatile. Hired killer in Munich, unhappy mistress in Je l'aimais, patient nurse of Amalric in Le Scaphandre..., she is one of the really impressive new actresses of the last ten years. Alice Taglioni contributes her considerable comedic talents to the fun.

Raphaël Jullian (Edouard Baer) is a specialist when it comes to pen biographies of trendy celebrities. But the least glorious part of his job is that he doesn't sign them when these books are published. As he's hired to write the life of a famous football player, Kevin (Clovis Cornillac), he discovers that the latter's girlfriend is one of his old loves! With the indecision that best characterizes him, he tries to win her back while jeopardizing both his relationship with his current girlfriend Muriel and his work for the football player.

The thing that seduced me the most in this droll comedy as one could wish, although the director Laurent Tirard inserted melancholic moments which never break the tone and the storytelling of the film is the things Raphaël and Kevin say about books dealing with celebrities. These books are written with short sentences and when the publication of one of these books is announced, it is bound to become a best-seller. And of course, in this film it will happen. These details are minor but when they surface, one can't help but smile listening to them. Everything revolving around them rings true as well as some aspects of Raphaël's job. I particular dig the moment when to illustrate a strong contrast, he tells the audience in a voice-over that his job partly consists in turning a gloomy childhood into a victorious life where dreams come true for a star.

With his witty lines and some good gags, Laurent Tirard's film also owes a lot to its actors. With his undetermined look, his inability to properly take a decision and assume it to the end, his awkward approach, Edouard Baer is a major asset for Tirard's film. He was the ideal man for this role unlike Claude Miller's versatile "Betty Fisher et Autres Histoires" (2001). And the direction of actors doesn't lie fallow. I was very taken with Marie-Josée Croze and the formidable sincerity she gave to her character Muriel. Clovis Cornillac is also well served with his football player Kevin who is as uncertain as Raphaël but on another basis. He doesn't know which style to confer to his biography! Why not "à la Charles Baudelaire"? Unless another idea comes to his mind...

The film showcases a scene which sums up best Raphaël's antsy state of mind: he's in his car on a street of Paris. The lights turn green but he doesn't move off and starts to cry. Not only because of Jeff's death but also because of the ghost life he leads in which he acts an impostor. It's high time he set out his stalls and a chain of unexpected events will unconsciously steer him towards his real direction...