''Barbara'' is a 2017 French
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...
directed by
Mathieu Amalric
Mathieu Amalric (; born 25 October 1965) is a French actor and filmmaker. He is best known internationally for his roles in the James Bond film '' Quantum of Solace'', in which he played the lead villain, Steven Spielberg's ''Munich'', Wes An ...
. It stars
Jeanne Balibar
Jeanne Balibar (born 13 April 1968) is a French actress and singer.
Life and career
Balibar was born in Paris, the daughter of Marxist philosopher Étienne Balibar and physicist Françoise Balibar.
She started her career as a student in th ...
and Mathieu Amalric. It tells the story of an actress who prepares to portray the famous French singer
Barbara. The film had its world premiere in the
Un Certain Regard
(, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob.
The section presents 20 films w ...
section at the
2017 Cannes Film Festival on 18 May 2017.
[ It was released in France on 6 September 2017.][
]
Plot
Brigitte is preparing for the role of the famous French singer Barbara. The actress carefully studies the character, gestures, manners, and intonations. She learns the music scores, mimics her facial expression, but, as Brigitte does and more and more of it, she gradually merges with the character. The director is also preparing to shoot the film: he studies archival footage and painstakingly selects the music. He is inspired and even possessed—but with Barbara or with her new incarnation?
Cast
* Jeanne Balibar
Jeanne Balibar (born 13 April 1968) is a French actress and singer.
Life and career
Balibar was born in Paris, the daughter of Marxist philosopher Étienne Balibar and physicist Françoise Balibar.
She started her career as a student in th ...
as Brigitte
* Mathieu Amalric
Mathieu Amalric (; born 25 October 1965) is a French actor and filmmaker. He is best known internationally for his roles in the James Bond film '' Quantum of Solace'', in which he played the lead villain, Steven Spielberg's ''Munich'', Wes An ...
as Yves Zand
* Vincent Peirani as Roland Romanelli
Roland Romanelli (born 21 May 1946 in Algiers) is a French accordionist, synthesist and composer, mainly known as arranger. During his career, he worked with Barbara, Rusty Egan, and other notable figures in popular music. He was an early ado ...
* Aurore Clément
Aurore Clément (born 12 October 1945) is a French actress who has appeared in French and English language movies and television productions.
Early life
She was born Marie-Thérèse Aurore Louise Clément in Soissons. Following the death of her ...
as Esther
* Grégoire Colin
Grégoire Colin (born 25 July 1975) is a French actor.
Career
Grégoire started acting on the French stage at age 12. He first caught the eye of critics in the 1992 Agnieszka Holland's psychological family drama ''Olivier, Olivier'' when he was ...
as Charley Marouani
Release
The film had its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard
(, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob.
The section presents 20 films w ...
section at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival on 18 May 2017.
Reception
Critical response
On review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds an approval rating of 83% based on 18 reviews, and an average rating of 6.97/10. On Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 68 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Jay Weissberg of ''Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' praised Jeanne Balibar's performance in the film, saying: "She has not only Barbara's look but also her gestures down pat, and the uncanny way in which the editing conflates actress with subject keeps interest relatively high." Leslie Felperin of ''The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...
'' called the film "a self-reflexive and sometimes screamingly self-indulgent work that's strictly for hardcore French viewers and festivals."
Accolades
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbara
2017 films
2017 drama films
French drama films
2010s French-language films
Films directed by Mathieu Amalric
Louis Delluc Prize winners
Films featuring a Best Actress César Award-winning performance
2010s French films