Mascarade (2022) User Reviews

What's behind the mask in Mascarade

[filmGPT · 6/10 · 7 June 2023]

Mascarade is a 2022 French film written and directed by Nicolas Bedos. The film stars Pierre Niney, Isabelle Adjani, François Cluzet, Marine Vacth, Emmanuelle Devos, Laura Morante, Charles Berling, James Wilby, Nicolas Briançon, Christiane Millet, Bruno Raffaelli, Philippe Uchan, and Daniel Hanssens.

The film follows Adrien (Niney), an attractive dancer whose career was shattered by a motorcycle accident. He squanders his youth in idleness, living off the largesse of older women. His life changes when he meets Margot (Vacth), a beautiful and manipulative woman who lives off scams and romantic entanglements. Together, they fantasize about a better life and set up a diabolical scheme, an emotional masquerade.

**Masquerade** is a stylish and well-acted film that is both funny and thought-provoking. Bedos's direction is sharp and confident, and he brings out the best in his cast. Niney and Vacth are both excellent, and they have great chemistry together. The supporting cast is also very good, with standout performances from Adjani, Cluzet, and Devos.

The film's biggest strength is its script. Bedos has written a clever and witty story that is full of surprises. The film is also surprisingly touching, and it explores some complex themes about love, deception, and identity.

However, the film is not without its flaws. The pacing can be a bit slow at times, and the film's ending is a bit too ambiguous for some tastes. Overall, though, **Masquerade** is a well-made and enjoyable film that is sure to please fans of French cinema.

French Gigolo

[searchanddestroy-1 · 25 May 2023]

Pierre Niney is excellent here in this crook gigolo role and Isabelle Adjani more than convincing in the wealthy old maid in love with this gigolo who takes advantage of her and also despises her. Excellent cast, including François Cluzet as the sucker, the patsy. The story telling using a smart editing is not that new, but still efficient to keep the audiences glued to this story taking place on the French Riviera, paradise of superficiality, hypocrisy, where very wealthy people get bored, wealthy dream to get wealthier, and the less wealthy envy those wealthier than them.... Light hearted drama without being a comedy but a true and accurate portrait of human condition. Not a masterpiece but worth viewing.

Exceptional actors, very good plot and a great satyre

[pchamponn · 10/10 · 1 November 2022]

I haven't seen such a great French movie in a long time. It's nice to see something so refreshing with well known actors and some less well know: Adjani, Cluzet, Ninet are great and the female lead is also amazing. Many times during the movie, we think we know where the story is going but there are many surprises along the way. It was also a great satyre of the well-off as well as the poor... both are totally amoral...which makes this exquisite.

I don't want to say much about the story in order no to spoil the movie.

To conclude, I highly recommend this movie for the plot, the directing, the amazing actors.

Thoughtful and enjoyable

[insightflow · 9/10 · 20 November 2022]

Very stylish, flawlessly acted (particularly loved François Cluzet), intricate yet realistic and not overly dramatic.

I disagree with it being characterised as satire in another review - this is subtle (or not so much) psychological drama from different viewpoints, which suffers only from its multidimensionality. Towards the end of the film it was difficult for me to keep track of the whole intrigue; nevertheless, it is a deep character study, without the scrutiny which would make it satirical.

The female characters are in their core earthy and sane, despite the ostensible drama; the males are unstable. This may be setting the record straight; I was in fact surprised the author is male.

The cinematography is lavish and pleasant.

A film of very good quality even if the masquerade is there!

[AvionPrince16 · 9/10 · 26 October 2022]

A film that gives many surprises, revelations, love, sex, money, conspiracy, characters much more complex than they seem and a masquerade. I really appreciated the structure of the film: the fact that we start with a flash forward which plunges us directly to the end of the film which results from our misunderstanding; but little by little the film reveals the characters, their inclinations, their objectives, their hidden faces and plots. I was pleasantly surprised and laughed many times. Because yes the film is comedy. The sexual scenes are also presented although a little prude although we saw a penis on the screen at the time of the blackmail (which was rather unexpected because things were hidden from us at the beginning and it was only visible without revealing any private part). The character of Margot was rather interesting although sometimes extreme (sucking off a stranger in a stolen car) and comical (the part where she takes an English accent and tries to coax). The character of Adrien also remains interesting and the double game that they will play to extract money from their targets will tell us about their deceit, manipulation and theft that we will enjoy watching all the same. Isabelle Adjani is wonderful in her role. So a game is established that involves Margot, Adrien, Martha, Simon, Carole and Jeanne (at the end we will understand better). What is quite brilliant in the scenario is that we don't really know who to trust: we watch everyone do their shenanigans and we hope that it will work for Adrien and Margot. But a relationship based on such a brief moment may also raise questions about the depth of Margot's plot: can she go deeper? Yes, because we learn at the end that her real plan was to live alone with her daughter in a luxurious house: something she manages to do at the expense of Adrien who remains a prisoner with a woman with an English accent (irony of fate). I found that the development took its time to build this game and this masquerade because the scenes in court let us think from the start that things have turned into Drama and it is that Simon is being completely fooled by Margot; he will learn it much later. I found the film brilliant in its dialogues, lines, the comedy and the seriousness which affect almost the whole film and especially a plot which grows when the various court testimonies follow one another. The film also has many surprises about the stolen objects and the fact that Margot intended to steal everything and keep it for herself, but Adrien had made people believe that the paintings were worthless (another revelation that I found unexpected).

I can only recommend this film which is a real masquerade in the good sense of the word. With funny, dramatic, sexual, romantic passages, surprises in the scenario (in the staging, the script, the dialogues). I really fell in love with the characters in all their pettiness as well as their motivations and what was to come. An incredible surprise that I enjoyed discovering at the cinema.

We live in Mascarade

[madalenapimentel · 9/10 · 18 April 2023]

"Masquerade" by Nicolas Bedos is based on the Director's unpublished novel. Screened out of competition at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, this extraordinary cinematic piece approaches the life of Adrien (Pierre Niney), a former injured dancer, that decides to enjoy his youth in luxury. The key to that luxurious life is shaped in the figure of Martha (Isabelle Adjani) - a talented actress, obsessed with herself and her career. This relationship has nearly no love in it, but for part of the film, is represented as a "win-win" situation for both characters. On one side, Adrien gets the extravagant life at the French Riviera and on the other side Martha gets the constant presence of someone besides herself.

Adrien is portrait from the beginning of the film as someone with a lost soul. No longer being able to dance and trapped into the life of someone that he has no empathy for, his whole life changes when he meets a stunning woman named Margot (Marine Vacth). She is represented as dangerous, beautiful, adventurous, and fearless; they both start a wild relationship and together they elaborate a scheme around real estate - and Simon, the real estate boss, gets to be the perfect target. The whole film is around a trial of this scheme and reveals who did, in fact, shoot Margot (the first scene of the movie). All of Adrien and Margot's stories are revealed in the depositions in the trial and in flashbacks.

A major part of the film is about explaining the complex illegal scheme and (almost) deadly relationship the main characters start to create. Bedos managed to divulge, in a precise way, the most perverse and ugly side of humanity, the weight that money and luxury have on our current society and how far some are willing to go to get this life - with no care and total contempt for others. This point is accomplished with the amazing cast - Giulia (Laura Monrate) as a hotel owner that seeks revenge and Simon (François Cluzet), a married man that ends up on being fooled by Margot's charm and twisted games. - "It's money what she wants. You're a pigeon, pal", Carol (Emanuelle Devos) to Simon.

Nicolas Bedos managed to maintain the suspense in each scene, getting the spectator to stay with the story to capture every detail. Even though the mystery is achieved, it should be mentioned the little tricks the Director plays with the watcher. In the beginning of the movie, Bedos uses the Somerset Maugham quote that says the French Riviera is a "sunny place for shady people" and in the begging of Adrien and Margot's relationship, she says to him that she just wants to be with her child, with no man. Both moments ended up being omens regarding the story of this romantic thriller. The brilliance in it must be the placing of these hints and the subtle way they are shown, allowing the viewer to get the satisfying reaction when connecting the dots at the end of the piece.

The opulence and richness portraited during the film is incredibly well achieved with the work of the production design (Stéphane Rozenbaum) - which its talent was already proven in "La Belle Époque" (2019, Nicolas Bedos).

Left with an ambiguous ending, regarding the shooting of Margot, Nicolas Bedos delivers to the public a complex, twisted, and rich vision of modern society. A true mascarade.

Unexpectedly a great watch

[janbruinier · 8/10 · 3 June 2023]

I went to this movie on a whim cause I had nothing better to do. I didn't expect much going into it, but I had a great time.

The plot feels familiar but I was never bored or obviously predicting in my mind what was about to happen.

All of the actors did a great job in this movie, there was not one bad performance that stood out to me.

Throughout the movie I was continuously gripped by the story and laughing audibly.

The pace of the movie is amazing as well, there was never a dull moment where I felt like I could run to the bathroom to pee without missing something interesting.

The cinematography was very satisfying as well.

All in all this movie is very enjoyable, but dont expect to see something life-changing. Recommend checking it out!