User reviews

Boris Vian was a "jack of all trade, but master of none", some would say, because he was known for a variety of talents, but not recognized for only one. He was a scientist, a singer, a musician, an author, a writer and a poet. His book "L'écume des jours" is a splendid work, and he'd expected to be designated at the winner of La Pléade prize, offered by his famous editor house Gallimard, who was publishing at this time people like Malraux, Queneau and Sartre. This TV movie is covering 1946 to 1959, the period where he became famous. Unfortunately, he didn't have any skill for his personal life, forgetting to pay his income tax and spent all his life to work too much to pay his debts. The charming and lovely actress Julie Gayet is playing his first wife Michelle, and she's good as usual. Laurent Lucas is doing a good job playing Boris Vian part. The film-maker is mixing his script with animation, fantasy and dreams, so we don't really know if the scenes we're seeing are true or imagined by this formidable character.

I admitt, it is a film who I like very much. For simple motif than I love the books of Boris Vian and I am real seduced by his life.

The film has the precious virtue to be decent. In this case it represents just a precious virtue because the fair reflection of atmosphere, the beautiful manner of Laurent Lucas to explore the vulnerabilities of character, the surprising good portrait of Jean Paul Sartre offered by Alain Libolt are the good points defining this portrait of an unique artist, provocative, inovativ, changing French literature, with a huge taste of games in different forms , a literary star and , in some measure, little more.

Exactly this little more counts in this case.

So, a beautiful film.