Film Festival 09 - The Artist's Life
The Artist's Life
La vie d'artiste, France 2007, 107m
Director: Marc Fitoussi
Festivals: London 2008
Creative pursuit and its hazards are examined in this smart
Parisian comedy that combines incisive observation with a
mischievous lightness of touch. Alice's lucrative dubbing work for
Japanese anime has caused her to stray from the sacred stage, which
she confidently feels is missing her as much as she hankers after
it. Provincial Cora, decidedly out of sync with contemporary
trends, reveres the poetic ballad tradition of French song; she is
ready to take her place in the chanteuse pantheon once she records
her album. A lousy high school teacher, Bertrand's true vocation is
writing; he desperately must follow up his debut novel with his
second; only the plot is proving elusive. Beguiled by their
respective muses and, more importantly, themselves, all three are
blind to reality and their sometimes appalling behaviour. Disaster
ensues, followed by a deeper knowledge about their true talents as
beneficial for all three as it is satisfying for us.
In French with English subtitles
