Le Rôle de sa vie (2004)
Directed by François Favrat

Film Review

For his debut feature, director François Favrat takes a timely sideswipe at society's obsession with celebrity whilst serving up a highly enteraining variation in the rom-com line. Le Rôle de sa vie features two of the darlings of French cinema today, Agnès Jaoui (well-known for her caustic comedies such as Le Goût des autres (2000)) and Karin Viard (the star of such films as La Nouvelle Ève (1999)). These two talented performers make an effective contrast, the one comfortably set up as a self-obsessed yet vulnerable starlet (think Norma Desmond in her youth), the other a dowdy Miss Nobody whom no one ever notices. An original and nunaced script that gives cliché a wide berth allows both of the lead actresses to play to their strengths, giving performances that are sympathetic, believable and gently amusing, not the broad caracatures you would expect to find in a lesser comedy. Jonathan Zaccaï is equally engaging as the hapless lover caught in the middle of a romantic tug-of-war and crisis of conscience, and is clearly an actor to watch out for. The film is simultaneously poignant, thought-provoking and funny - a very auspicious debut from a director with a shrewd understanding of human relationships.

Film Synopsis

Claire Rocher is a freelance journalist for a fashion magazine who lacks the confidence to make a success of her career and her love life.   The crushing tedium of her existence is relieved on the day she finds herself in a car with her favourite actress, Elizabeth Becker.  The actress is not in the best of moods and, anxious that she may have offended her admirer, she apologies to her a few days later and asks if she would like to interview her.  Naturally Claire jumps at the chance and in next to no time the two women find they have a natural rapport, even though their personalities and lifestyles could hardly be more different.  Elizabeth engages Claire as her personal assistant, and something of her self-confidence begins to rub off on her new friend.  But when Claire takes a liking to Mathias, an attractive young gardener, she is none too pleased when Elizabeth offers him some work and starts to become intimate with him.  A beautiful friendship looks as if it is about to turn very sour...