Look at Me (Comme une Image) | Review

Jaoui’s sophomore venture combines hope and humiliation.

After the narcissistic-friendly The Taste of Others, director/writer/actor Agnes Jaoui’s second effort charters into the chilly waters of a sabotaged father-daughter relationship and explores the seedy existence they both live in; where each person unknowingly walks over one another without leaving much of an apology.

Direct translation of the French title means “like an image”, and so this feature explores the problem of image with the insecurities that are felt on being a couple of sizes bigger than most or not having the confidence in one’s talents. The heart of the film focuses on the discouraging existence of an overweight, hopeful singer named Lolita (Marilou Berry) competing for her father’s (Jean-Pierre Bacri – Une Femme de Ménage ) attention with a mother-in-law who could pass off as a schoolmate. Unfortunately for her, the competition is too strong and her father is too distracted. Rather than focus on the dynamic of the father and daughter relationship, the Bacri-Jaoui script explores the causes of their distance by mirroring the hypocritical rules of society where fame and/or good looks are valued and where the rest merit a “good luck” or “good try” recognition.

Heavy in a delicious dialogue, yet somewhat empty in true character development, Comme Une Image is a marathon ran by an ensemble of equally unlikable characters, where salacious suffering is kept in full view. Indeed, the viewer never “feels” for the protagonist because the script often forgets her, – very much in the same manner that the film’s patriarch tends to forget her. While the relationships feel authentic, the film trots along a path that feels revisited one too many times. Aside for the conscience awakening of the teacher (Jaoui) who takes an interest only because of her pupils’ attached celebrity; there are perhaps one too many scenes that accentuate the look of abandonment and disappointment for its protagonist.

Winner of best screenplay prize at Cannes, Comme une Image situates itself as a technically strong social drama with comedic undercurrents – its strength is in the characters, but its downfall is that the film sags a little.

Rating 2.5 stars