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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Only the French dare to make movies about such unlikeable people, and only the French can make you like them anyway. Look at Me is a cornucopia of prickly personalities, starting with Lolita (Marilou Berry), an aspiring singer who hates everyone who pays attention to her because of her famous father and assumes that no one would pay attention to her for any other reason. It's not surprising, because her father Etienne (Jean-Pierre Bacri, The Housekeeper), an acclaimed writer, surrounds himself with people who want something from him--including a less famous writer (Laurent Grevill, I Can't Sleep) who finds success thanks to Etienne, and whose wife (writer/director Agnes Jaoui, The Taste of Others) happens to be Lolita's music teacher. Look at Me captures the little ways that fame warps everything around it; Etienne gets away with treating everyone terribly because of his literary stature, to which desire and resentment fasten like barnacles. But it's not just a satire--gradually, through an accumulation of brief glimpses and offhand remarks, these abrasive characters become increasingly vivid and genuine. --Bret Fetzer
Product Description
Jean-Pierre Bacri, Marilou Berry, Agnes Jaoui. The friends and family of a famous writer struggle to find their way out of her shadow in this touching film that won Best Screenplay at the 2004 Canned Film Festival. 2004/color/111 min/PG-13.
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
"Look at Me" (Comme Une Image) is sophisticated, smart, witty, incisively written and a cogent look at New Millennium Celebrity and it's effects on family and friends.
As opposed to the USA, except for a few exceptions like Stephen King, in France, writers are revered and celebrated as much, and sometimes more, than Movie and TV stars.
Jean Pierre Bacri plays Etienne Cassard, a famous writer around whom several people revolve: his pretty but plump daughter forlornly named Lolita (Marilou Berry), his young trophy wife Karine (Virginie Desarnauts) and Sylvia and Pierre Miller (Agnes Jaoui and Laurent Grevill): Sylvia is Lolita's voice teacher and Pierre is an unsuccessful writer who lucks into a meeting with Cassard through the connection between his wife and her pupil.
Lolita is like her father is some ways, mostly negative though: she rails at her friends and family in a bratty way and though she resents her father's wealth and social position she has no qualms about asking him for money or using his name as a way a garnering friendships. On the other hand she is shy, too self-conscious about her Ruebenesque figure and in one scene doesn't have the guts to demand access to a party given in her father's honor.
Lolita craves a boy named Matthieu, who openly flirts and even kisses other girls in front of her and yet, when she meets someone who actually likes her for herself, Sebastien, she has no idea how to deal with him.
Bacri's Etienne Cassard is a smug, opinionated, stuck on himself emotional thug: he wants all the love and admiration yet offers nothing in return but ridicule and a kind of feigned love. He is rude to waiters, to cab drivers: all of those people that he feels are beneath him in social status. His idea of parenting is to complain to his young wife, while they are weekending in the country: "Can't you keep that kid quiet...I came out here for some peace and quiet."
Marilou Berry plays Lolita like the ultimate victim but, like her father, she can be irritating and irritable: she cries, pouts and generally acts like a big spoiled brat. But Lolita has a heart and is capable of love, if not the wherewithal emotionally to recognize it when it is 12 inches from her face.
The emotional world of "Look at Me" is the world of the dysfunctional: both emotionally and socially these people operate at the highest level...and because they are famous, they are tolerated at least and loved at best.
As directed and written by Agnes Jaoui and co-written by Bacri, "Look At Me" is about our obsession with the surface of things: if he/she is beautiful then he/she must be ok, happy, fulfilled. More to the point "LAM" is about how we've become obsessed with celebrity and how this pursuit of fame and fortune can obfuscate, alter forever and derange our lives and relationships.
"Look At Me" is ultimately then, an acidic look at the pursuit of fame, at the celebrity derived from fame and at the exorbitant price we must pay in human currency for it's fleeting, always ready to move on costly pleasures.
As opposed to the USA, except for a few exceptions like Stephen King, in France, writers are revered and celebrated as much, and sometimes more, than Movie and TV stars.
Jean Pierre Bacri plays Etienne Cassard, a famous writer around whom several people revolve: his pretty but plump daughter forlornly named Lolita (Marilou Berry), his young trophy wife Karine (Virginie Desarnauts) and Sylvia and Pierre Miller (Agnes Jaoui and Laurent Grevill): Sylvia is Lolita's voice teacher and Pierre is an unsuccessful writer who lucks into a meeting with Cassard through the connection between his wife and her pupil.
Lolita is like her father is some ways, mostly negative though: she rails at her friends and family in a bratty way and though she resents her father's wealth and social position she has no qualms about asking him for money or using his name as a way a garnering friendships. On the other hand she is shy, too self-conscious about her Ruebenesque figure and in one scene doesn't have the guts to demand access to a party given in her father's honor.
Lolita craves a boy named Matthieu, who openly flirts and even kisses other girls in front of her and yet, when she meets someone who actually likes her for herself, Sebastien, she has no idea how to deal with him.
Bacri's Etienne Cassard is a smug, opinionated, stuck on himself emotional thug: he wants all the love and admiration yet offers nothing in return but ridicule and a kind of feigned love. He is rude to waiters, to cab drivers: all of those people that he feels are beneath him in social status. His idea of parenting is to complain to his young wife, while they are weekending in the country: "Can't you keep that kid quiet...I came out here for some peace and quiet."
Marilou Berry plays Lolita like the ultimate victim but, like her father, she can be irritating and irritable: she cries, pouts and generally acts like a big spoiled brat. But Lolita has a heart and is capable of love, if not the wherewithal emotionally to recognize it when it is 12 inches from her face.
The emotional world of "Look at Me" is the world of the dysfunctional: both emotionally and socially these people operate at the highest level...and because they are famous, they are tolerated at least and loved at best.
As directed and written by Agnes Jaoui and co-written by Bacri, "Look At Me" is about our obsession with the surface of things: if he/she is beautiful then he/she must be ok, happy, fulfilled. More to the point "LAM" is about how we've become obsessed with celebrity and how this pursuit of fame and fortune can obfuscate, alter forever and derange our lives and relationships.
"Look At Me" is ultimately then, an acidic look at the pursuit of fame, at the celebrity derived from fame and at the exorbitant price we must pay in human currency for it's fleeting, always ready to move on costly pleasures.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
COMME UNE IMAGE (LOOK AT ME) is a tough little film that practically defies the viewer to love it. Rated as a comedy, it has few chuckles of the usual kind, but the smart tidy script delivers more of the Reformation-type comedy - wit with a bite. Writer/director and star Agnès Jaoui (her co-author is her ex-husband Jean-Pierre Bacri who also stars) is obviously an intelligent, observant, caustic chronicler of contemporary French society who dotes on celebrities at the expense of their own self-respect. Not a single character in this film is likeable, but each one is fascinatingly interesting and a bit warped. Their interaction provides the venom that in Jaoui's hands raises the bar on the range of comedy.
Étienne Cassard (Jean-Pierre Bacri) is a famous writer whose latest novel has been 'transformed' into a schmaltzy film about which he is loathsomely embarrassed. He is caustic, acerbic, and emotionally negligent of both his grown obese daughter Lolita (Marilou Berry), who devotes her resentful life in an attempt to being a famous concert singer, and to his new wife Karine (Virginie Desarnauts) and little daughter. Lolita's music coach is Sylvia (Agnès Jaoui) whose demands on her students reflect her frustrated life being married to an unknown author Pierre (Laurent Grévill). Odd paths cross and it is through Lolita's influence as the daughter of a famous writer Étienne that Sylvia arranges for Pierre to join forces with Étienne and gain acceptance and popularity, but the consequences include Sylvia's increased tutelage for Lolita and her group of fellow madrigal singers.
Lolita comes the closest to being a character about whom we care. She is distraught about her weight, her distant father, her stepmother and stepsister, her inability to gain the affection for the boy of her dreams, her struggle to become a significant performer - all of which prevents her from recognizing the man who could salvage it all - Sébastien (Keine Bouhiza) who literally falls at her feet!
All of these characters interact in complex and at times trying ways, ever cognizant of the 'authority of celebrity' and the results of these engagements form the body of the film. The acting is on a high level, the dialogue is crisp and smart, and the musical background for this mélange is a gorgeous mixture of classical music ranging from Buxtehude through Schubert ('An die Musik' plays a big role!) and many others. This 'comedy' is more intellectual than entertaining, but if wit and elegance of acting brings you joy, then this is a film to see. In French with subtitles at a long 2 hours! Grady Harp, August 05
Étienne Cassard (Jean-Pierre Bacri) is a famous writer whose latest novel has been 'transformed' into a schmaltzy film about which he is loathsomely embarrassed. He is caustic, acerbic, and emotionally negligent of both his grown obese daughter Lolita (Marilou Berry), who devotes her resentful life in an attempt to being a famous concert singer, and to his new wife Karine (Virginie Desarnauts) and little daughter. Lolita's music coach is Sylvia (Agnès Jaoui) whose demands on her students reflect her frustrated life being married to an unknown author Pierre (Laurent Grévill). Odd paths cross and it is through Lolita's influence as the daughter of a famous writer Étienne that Sylvia arranges for Pierre to join forces with Étienne and gain acceptance and popularity, but the consequences include Sylvia's increased tutelage for Lolita and her group of fellow madrigal singers.
Lolita comes the closest to being a character about whom we care. She is distraught about her weight, her distant father, her stepmother and stepsister, her inability to gain the affection for the boy of her dreams, her struggle to become a significant performer - all of which prevents her from recognizing the man who could salvage it all - Sébastien (Keine Bouhiza) who literally falls at her feet!
All of these characters interact in complex and at times trying ways, ever cognizant of the 'authority of celebrity' and the results of these engagements form the body of the film. The acting is on a high level, the dialogue is crisp and smart, and the musical background for this mélange is a gorgeous mixture of classical music ranging from Buxtehude through Schubert ('An die Musik' plays a big role!) and many others. This 'comedy' is more intellectual than entertaining, but if wit and elegance of acting brings you joy, then this is a film to see. In French with subtitles at a long 2 hours! Grady Harp, August 05
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By N. De-Sica
I believe that films are suppose to make the world a better place. no body is perfect. there is no "hero".
Look AT ME is a film about people (not perfect people) made for people (as perfect as we can be). it is gentle and touching and made me think how can I becaome a better person, it made me laugh and cry about our behaviour and at the end, filled me with hope and with love.
"look at me" is a human need
the acting, score, dialog, editing are faboules. I wish to thank the director for giving me another gift.
Look AT ME is a film about people (not perfect people) made for people (as perfect as we can be). it is gentle and touching and made me think how can I becaome a better person, it made me laugh and cry about our behaviour and at the end, filled me with hope and with love.
"look at me" is a human need
the acting, score, dialog, editing are faboules. I wish to thank the director for giving me another gift.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Intruiging French talk-drama
I love foreign movies and I happen to pick this up from my local library the other day.
"Comme Une Image" (2004; 110 min. Read more
"Comme Une Image" (2004; 110 min. Read more
Published on January 4, 2011 by Paul Allaer
4.0 out of 5 stars
You Need To Give This Movie A Chance Before Judging It Too Quickly!
This is not your typical drama movie, it is a French movie, meaning it is different and will feel different. Read more
Published on August 21, 2010 by Khaled Altaher
3.0 out of 5 stars
Look At Me..Great topic for teens, but lots of blah blah
For high school students: this movie offers a great theme for teens: self image. Unfortunately, the theme itself is drowned out by too much dialogue. Read more
Published on August 21, 2009 by Linden Emery
4.0 out of 5 stars
Smart movie about unlikable people
I sincerely hope that no one has to have a father like the one portrayed in this movie. This guy is so bad that he should be locked up somewhere where another person can at least... Read more
Published on September 19, 2007 by Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars
Smart, Lovely
I'm looking to find a better title for this review of this very fine film.
Actually I think that the translators could have found a better English title for the film. Read more
Actually I think that the translators could have found a better English title for the film. Read more
Published on June 24, 2007 by R. Swanson
4.0 out of 5 stars
Triple Triumph
The breath of fresh air - refined, funny, ironic, in the best traditions of the Chekhov's plays, this movie is a triple triumph for its writer/director/star Agnes Jaoui. Read more
Published on March 12, 2007 by Galina
4.0 out of 5 stars
engrossing family drama
"Look at Me" is a talky but generally interesting French drama about a teenage girl's attempt to earn the love and recognition of her strangely distant father. Read more
Published on September 12, 2006 by Roland E. Zwick
3.0 out of 5 stars
"The Cyanide Is In The Bathroom"
This review refers to "Comme Une Image (Look At Me)", DVD(Sony Pictures Classics)...
"The Cyanide is in the bathroom" a man tells a sulking house guest at his home in... Read more
"The Cyanide is in the bathroom" a man tells a sulking house guest at his home in... Read more
Published on August 17, 2006 by L. Shirley
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great French Flick
There are two kinds of french films, poignent ones and wacky ones. This one is the former. It's sweet, with goodn dialogue and excellent acting by Berry. Read more
Published on September 7, 2005 by chicoer2003
3.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable
There are two kinds of French films, poignent and sureal, Look at me is the former. It's has a good story and excellent acting (especially from Ms. Berry. Read more
Published on September 6, 2005 by chicoer2003
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