The more erudite among my readers will recognize my summary as the title of one of if not THE finest autobiographies of a musician, whether 'pop', jazz or classical, ever published and I am more than happy to acknowledge Artie Shaw as the author. The film is the latest in a mini-genre exploring the phenomena of female idolatry. Joseph L. Mankiewicsz got there early if not indeed first, back in 1950 with All About Eve, a couple of years ago we had La Role de sa vie and now backstage. There's a definite progression traceable between all three; in 'Eve', Ann Baxter's Eve was not really as in love with Bette Davis' Margo Channing as she was with Eve Harrington, the early 'hero-worship' was merely a ruse to get close enough to Channing to oust her. In La Role de sa vie Karin Viard began by genuinely admiring Agnes Jaoui as an actress and welcoming the chance to work for her as secretary cum dogsbody but was strong enough to walk away and get a book out of it when the time was right but in Backstage Isild Le Besco is little more than a young girl besotted with a 'star' pop singer in the shape of Emmanuells Seigner and takes little more than disappointment away from the encounter. We're asked to believe that Le Besco's mother could persuade a pop superstar to shoot a video in the garden and house located in an unremarkable suburb as a 'surprise' for her daughter. If this puts a strain on our credibility it's nothing to the ease with which Le Besco succeeds where dozens of other wannabee groupies fail in becoming a gofor for Seigner. By fair the most interesting character is Noemie Lvosky in a role that has parallels with Thelma Ritter's 'Birdie' in All About Eve. Lvosky is a writer herself (Il Est plus facile pour une chameau ...') and recently directed her own first feature the excellent Les Sentiments and is spot-on as secretary-minder. Though light years short of either 'Eve' or 'Role' it's not as bad as it might have been.
Review of Backstage
