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Paparazzi
1998 Comedy
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Credits
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Director: Alain Berbérian
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Script: Alain Berbérian, Jean-François Halin, Vincent Lindon, Simon Michaël, Danièle Thompson, Patrick Timsit
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Photo: Vincenzo Marano
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Music: Frank Roussel
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Cast: Vincent Lindon (Michel Verdier),
Patrick Timsit (Franck Bordoni),
Catherine Frot (Evelyne Bordoni),
Nathalie Baye (Nicole),
Isabelle Gélinas (Sandra),
Elise Tielrooy (Bénédicte),
Didier Bénureau (Dacharie),
Géraldine Bonnet-Guérin (Julie),
Tim Doughty (M.C. Watson),
Christophe Hémon (Xavier)
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Country: France
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Language: French
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Runtime: 111 min
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Summary
When Franck Bordoni finds himself inadvertently on the front cover of a popular magazine
he loses his job as a night watchman. The photograph was taken whilst Franck was
enjoying himself at a football match instead of being at his place of work. Intent
on punishing the photographer who cost him his job, Franck visits the magazine’s
offices and ends up in the company of Michel Verdier, an unscrupulous member of the paparazzi
pack. To Michel’s annoyance, Franck clings to him like a limpet, fascinated
by his work and eager to serve as an apprentice. As he immerses himself in his exciting
new life (and Isabelle Adjani’s dustbins), Franck hardly notices his former life
disappear – including his wife and young son…
Review
After his first film, a totally off-the-wall comedy entitled Cité
de la peur (1994), director Alain Berberian was approached by producer Alain Sarde
with the idea of making a film about the paparazzi. This was well over a year before
the death of Lady Diana in Paris in August 1997, demonstrating that antipathy towards
sensation-seeking photographers was rife way before their possible complicity in this
tragic event was suggested. When the film was released (in April 1998), “paparazzi”
was a very dirty word indeed.
In contrast to most of Berberian’s films to date, Paparzzi
is a well-paced, intelligent comedy which appeals at many levels. There is
a certain amount of the usual juvenile comic hi-jinks (of the kind that rendered Berberian’s
subsequent film, Le
Boulet, trite and tedious) but generally the comic situations pay off and a
few are genuinely very funny. The comedy works well because the film’s two
stars, Vincent Lindon and Patrick Timsit complement each other beautifully, making a natural
comic double act, reminiscent of other great French film partnerships (for example Gérard
Depardieu and Pierre Richard). Lindon’s experience and reputation as a serious
dramatic actor is primarily what allows the film’s second, and most satisfying,
level to function – a scathing satirical comment on the world of the paparazzi.
The plethora of jokes does not hide the fact that the film has a serious underbelly,
which shows itself unambiguously in the film’s second half. The paparazzi
existence is ultimately shown to be as destructive to the lowlife that take the photographs
as to the victims they persecute. It would have been nice if this point had been driven
home more firmly, but the ironic ending just about does the job, without resorting to
clumsy moralising or misplaced sentimentality.
Overall, Paparazzi is a satisfying film
which, whilst not a masterpiece of social commentary, makes some worthy statements on
the sad time in which we live. A round of guest appearances from some very
famous stars provides an expected bonus. But do we really get to see what Isabelle
Adjani puts in her dustbins…?
© James Travers 2004
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