Backstage

It's the performances that make this film worth seeing. Isild Le Besco's is amazing. Her face says it all. See this just to watch her, particularly in her happy moments. I was also very impressed with Nomie Lvovsky (plays a supporting role). She also was perfect in her non-verbal facial expression story telling.

The rock star/fans/entertainment industry plot is the framework, but the story isn't really about all that. The rendering of the plot is somewhat comic and melodramatic, but I believe this is intentional to keep all that from getting in the way of the real story which is the characters' passions and interactions. Even so, there is plenty of reality involved.

This 2005 film was surprisingly good, thanks to very deft and often subtle direction by Emmanuelle Bercot, who co-authored the script. She establishes an intense mood, a dark song of love, that nevertheless remains rooted in ordinary reality, despite occasional histrionics by one or another of its leads. A superb supporting cast (including Noemie Lvovsky) provides human touches and Emmanuelle Seigner, as the adored diva, and Isild Le Besco as the smitten fan, approach one another with a mix of curiosity, fear, and affection. This theme has been done before, notably in Tom DiCillo's sentimental and funny "Delirious," but "Backstage" has a European air, like Chopin's "Tristesse" Etude. Bercot is careful not to let it go over the brink, keeping the mood disciplined and the story within the boundaries of reality, despite the younger woman's often neurotic behavior. A relationship movie that is intriguing.

A teen-age fan of a Madonna-eque pop star ends up befriending the star, and before long all sorts of boundaries start getting crossed. Picture a dash of "All About Eve", a little "3 Women", and mix in some "Almost Famous" and you have some of the feel of this dark, but fun brew.

Terrific performances by the two protagonists – Emmanuelle Seigner as the singer, Islid Le Besco as her obsessed teen protégé drive the film, making scenes that could have seemed ridiculous ring oddly true, if strange.

Not everything works. Among other things the singer's music feels far too cute and generic to drive the kind of dark obsession we see. And some twists stretch credulity or reason at moments. But if Bergman had directed "About Famous" we might have gotten something a little like this heady mess of sexuality, loss of self, obsession, complex familial relationships being created and destroyed, loss of innocence, etc. etc.

Had potential but falls back on the old French staple of style over substance. Some suspense but drifts and feels contrived.

Performance-wise, Isild Le Besco is irritating but Emmanuelle Seigner provides the suitable gravitas and hedonistic randomness as the pop star.

Fans obsess over stars, yes, but when a celebrity is lonely, isolated, and needs someone in their life they can connect to, and control ... even a crazy fan may have some something to offer. Such is the premise of Backstage. As with many foreign movies its not just the plot, or the relationships, but the texture and feel of the world the characters inhabit that forms the "meat" of the film. And its a sad, manipulative, emotionally-starved world these people inhabit. Never having been a celebrity, nor a member of an "entourage", still I sense this movie "gets it right" as it tracks the characters efforts to find love and happiness in their dysfunctional, stifling unnatural world. Amazing performances from all cast members. Well worth a watch.