dromasca

Musical biopics seem to be one of the most prolific film genres of recent years. 'Monsieur Aznavour' had the premises of a special case, as it is a film whose conception started while Charles Aznavour was still alive. He himself chose the two filmmakers - screenwriters and directors - Mehdi Idir and Grand Corps Malade - and granted them access to his personal archives and in his residences for discussions with him and his family. Aznavour died in 2018, when the film was in pre-production. The two filmmakers let a few years pass before resuming the work at the film, releasing it in 2024, when 100 years since the singer's birth were celebrated. We cannot know how the film would have looked if it had been made when Aznavour was still alive, but it is hard to imagine that it could have been more respectful and reverential in its attitude towards the musician's biography. 'Monsieur Aznavour' is a classic-style biopic, more a docu-drama rather than an artistic interpretation from a different perspective of the artist's life and work.

The script is conceived as a classic biography, almost in documentary style. We first see the little Aznavourian as an 8-year-old boy, living with his family of Armenian refugees following the genocide during the First World War, the difficult years of adaptation and integration in France in the interwar period. With the help of his classic good family (father, mother and his sister Aïda who was his best friend and confidant throughout his life, or in any case throughout the film), the child and then the young man will get through the difficult periods of war and occupation and begin a career as a musician, becoming Aznavour. The change and true launch will occur with the meeting with Édith Piaf, who will make of him her personal driver, favorite composer and the singer who appears as a 'warm-up' at the opening of concerts. The true independent career will only begin when he leaves the tutelage of the great star, who did not believe or did not want to believe in his future as a singer. The road was not easy, some decisions were not optimal, but in the end Aznavour gets where he wanted to, achieving glory and success with the public. The film depicts several key moments in the artist's biography, including famous encounters with personalities such as Johnny Hallyday or Frank Sinatra, his role in Truffaut's film 'Tirez sur le pianiste' or episodes from his private life. The price paid on a personal level was huge. When he had to choose between career and personal life, the former took priority, and the price was paid not only by him but also by those around him.

The script divides Aznavour's life and career into five chapters, with the first three, which describe his difficult youth, his launch, his rise, his crises and the beginning of his success, taking on the greatest importance and occupying most of the screening time. Some aspects of his personal life are ignored (the second of his three marriages is not mentioned at all) or treated rather superficially. In my opinion, the casting of Tahar Rahim in the lead role was not that inspired. He is a talented actor, but with a very different profile. He looks excellent, for example, in the series 'The Serpent', but here I don't think he managed to portray the complexity of this highly talented artist, workaholic, permanently dissatisfied with himself, overcoming shyness with bravery. In addition, sorry, he is too tall for the role. Aznavour's height (1.60m) was part of his personal complexes, he compensated for his anti-male model physiognomy with charisma and warmth. These are precisely what Tahar Rahim lacks, in my opinion. An interesting casting is that of Marie-Julie Baup as Édith Piaf, a very difficult role to play after seeing the film with Marion Cotillard. I liked her acting, same for Camille Moutawakil in the role of Aïda. From time to time, documentary sequences are inserted into the film, short excerpts from what Aznavour filmed on his travels with his amateur camera (another hobby of his) and only at the end we enjoyed original music. Most of the songs are performed by actors, and it is hard to avoid, for those who know and love the voices of Aznavour or Piaf, the unfavorable comparisons. The film was made with many good intentions and looks good. Due to the history of this production, 'Monsieur Aznavour' is probably the most detailed and historically accurate biographical film that will ever be made about Charles Aznavour. But that may not be enough for a very good biographical film. It lacks an original perspective, it lacks the passion and intense artistic and emotional experience that I had every time I saw and heard Aznavour sing. I hope there will be better films about him. Charles Aznavour deserves it.

Why didn't Alan Rudolph become one of the most appreciated filmmakers of his generation, that of the great American directors born in the 1940s? Born sometime between Scorsese and Spielberg, launched as an assistant to Robert Altman, he is almost completely forgotten today. Watching his films, however, is a revelation. This is the case of 'Choose Me' from 1984, a film surprising in its freshness and intelligence, which enjoyed some success in its time and which today is almost completely forgotten. Unfairly, I think, because it manages to be full of suspense and originality in a genre dominated by clichés - that of romantic comedies.

We are dealing with six characters in 'Choose Me' - three women and three men. Eve is the owner of a bar, she is a woman around whom men swarm, but none of them seems to be the right man, so she has decided never to marry. Nancy is the voice of Dr. Love, a radio talk show host who gives relationship advice to her adoring audiences, but who herself seems to need advice to fill a life devoid of feelings. Pearl is a poet and married to Zack, a man twice her age, rich, violent and unfaithful. The bartender Billy is hopelessly in love with Eve. The character who appears in Eve's bar and disturbs the peace and unstable balance of the lives of the others is Mickey - a mysterious man with a completely unclear past and character: he tells everyone that he was a pilot and a spy, that he has been in prisons and mental institutions. He has traveled all over the world but does not have money for the bus that would take him from Los Angeles home to Las Vegas. Is there any truth in what he tells? Maybe the fact that he has been married twice and that he proposes marriage to every woman he kisses? Madman or hero, all women fall prey to his charms.

Most of the action takes place at night in Los Angeles, especially in Eve's bar. Soul and R&B music performed by Teddy Pendergrass plays an important role in the film, which could almost be considered a musical, but if I had to choose a suitable song it would be Kris Kristofferson's 'Help Me Make It Trough the Night'. Over the course of three nights, the characters will meet, get to know each other but not recognize each other, fall in love, kiss and make love, and in the end decide who will choose whom. The script is very cleverly written, using the medium of late-night radio shows, which inspired some memorable films in those years, to provoke the audience's thoughts about how words express or hide feelings, about love and emotional involvement, even about real life and that of radio shows (today we would call it virtual life). Keith Carradine plays the role of Mickey, the man who no woman in the film can resist. He was usually cast in much darker roles at that time - here he is an apparent bad boy with a kind heart and a charmer, who slowly conquers both male and female viewers. In a French film, this role would have been suitable for Belmondo. Lesley Ann Warren was at the time a star of the American screen and music who had debuted very young, two decades earlier, as 'Cinderella' and is undertaking here the role of a woman challenged by life. A surprise for me was Rae Dawn Chong - a brilliant, beautiful and talented actress who, I think, deserved a better career. John Larroquette is one of those actors who look extremely familiar to us from many excellent supporting roles, like that of Billy here. I left Geneviève Bujold for the end. She had the opportunity for a formidable role, that of Nancy, the radio presenter who advices others, but fails to manage her own life very well. This role has not aged well in the 40 years since the film was made. The performance seemed to me stiff and contrasting with the naturalness of everyone around. If this film were to be remade today, the story about virtual and real identities, about social life on the radio waves and real emotional life would certainly take place online. The Internet has taken over the role of late-night radio shows, Internet aliases have replaced the pseudonyms that were used on radio. A remake of 'Choose Me' would be very interesting, but those who will dare to make it should know that the reference for comparison has raised the bar very high.