Comme une image (2004)

Director:

Agnès Jaoui

Writers:

Jean-Pierre Bacri (scenario)
Agnès Jaoui (scenario)

Release Date:

22 September 2004 (Belgium)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Music | Romance

Plot:

A french girl gifted with a great voice, has a complex about her weight and her appearance.

Plot Keywords:

Writer | Concert | Friend | Weight | Fear

Awards:

8 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Marilou Berry	...	Lolita Cassard
Jean-Pierre Bacri	...	Étienne Cassard
Agnès Jaoui	...	Sylvia Millet
Laurent Grévill	...	Pierre Millet
Virginie Desarnauts	...	Karine Cassard
Keine Bouhiza	...	Sébastien
Grégoire Oestermann	...	Vincent
Serge Riaboukine	...	Félix
Michèle Moretti	...	Édith
Jean-Pierre Lazzerini	...	Taxi Driver
Jacques Boko	...	Bouncer
Yves Verhoeven	...	Onlooker #1
Samir Guesmi	...	Onlooker #2
Bob Zaremba	...	Guy Seen Everywhere
Roberte Kiehl	...	Conservatoire Pianist
Jean-Baptiste Blanc	...	Conservatoire Singer
Emma Beziaud	...	Louna
Julien Baumgartner	...	Mathieu
Zelie Berger	...	Mathieu's Girlfriend
Dimitri Rataud	...	Doctor
Camille Dereux	...	Pretty Singer
Henri Boyer	...	Pierre and Sylvia's Pianist
Guillaume Huet	...	Nicolas
Olivia Lancelot	...	Painter
Elodie Clairin	...	Etienne's Waitress
Olivier Claverie	...	Mr. Tessier
Bernard Blancan	...	Village Cafe Waiter
Sebastien Andrieu	...	Young Man Who Looks at Sylvia (as Sébastien Andrieu)
Marie Sarrasin	...	Young Girl Mathieu Kisses
Antonia Cornin-Navarro	...	Guardian
Philippe Tran	...	Edith and Sylvia's Waiter
Erick Desmarestz	...	New Teacher (as Erick Desmaretz)
Didier Brice	...	New Teacher's Assistant
Olivier Doran	...	François Galland
Catherine Morin	...	Tastycat Actress
Alain Debruyne	...	Usher
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Vincent Bowen
Emilie Lafarge
Maia Landaburu
Jackie Berroyer	...	L'ami devant les Bains (uncredited)
André Crudo	...	Le photographe des Bains (uncredited)

Directed by
Agnès Jaoui

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jean-Pierre Bacri		scenario
Agnès Jaoui		scenario

Produced by
Jean-Philippe Andraca	....	producer
Christian Bérard	....	producer
Judith Havas	....	assistant producer

Original Music by
Philippe Rombi

Cinematography by
Stéphane Fontaine

Film Editing by
François Gédigier

Casting by
Brigitte Moidon

Production Design by
Olivier Jacquet

Set Decoration by
Jimena Esteve

Costume Design by
Jackie Budin

Makeup Department
Eric Benazet	....	hair stylist
Patrick Girault	....	key hair stylist
Jacky Reynal	....	key makeup artist (as Jackie Reynal)
Catherine Vrignaud	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Daniel Chevalier	....	production manager
Nathalie Dages	....	assistant unit production manager
Loïc Deplace	....	assistant unit production manager
Alexandra Dima	....	assistant unit production manager
Aurélien Fauchet	....	assistant unit production manager
Jean-Marc Fitte-Duval	....	assistant unit production manager
Abraham Goldblat	....	post-production manager
Judith Havas	....	post-production supervisor
Marie-Hélène Lambret	....	unit production manager (as Marie-Hélène Labret)
Bruno Perdrigeat	....	assistant unit production manager
Xavier Rivière	....	assistant unit production manager
Romaric Thomas	....	assistant unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Antoine Garceau	....	first assistant director
Ludovic Giraud	....	trainee assistant director
Raphaëlle Piani	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Franck Chicheportiche	....	assistant art director
Peter Hammond	....	painter
Philippe Lacomblez	....	assistant art director
Yvon Moreno	....	property master
Eleonore Chaspoul	....	props (uncredited)

Sound Department
Katia Boutin	....	dialogue editor
Frank Ceven	....	assistant foley artist
Pascal Chauvin	....	foley artist
Rym Debbarh-Mounir	....	assistant sound editor
Jean-Pierre Duret	....	sound
Dominique Eyraud	....	boom operator
Gérard Lamps	....	sound mixer
Armelle Mahé	....	assistant sound mixer
Armelle Mahé	....	dialogue recordist
Armelle Mahé	....	foley recording engineer
Nadine Muse	....	sound editor

Special Effects by
Daniel Lenoir	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Frederic Moreau	....	visual effects producer
Sarah Moreau	....	visual effects coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Xavier Cholet	....	electrician
Xavier Cholet	....	gaffer
Marie Decourt	....	second assistant camera
Jean-Paul Dumas-Grillet	....	still photographer
Isabelle Dumas	....	first assistant camera
Jean-Bernard Josko	....	grip
Franck Loiseau	....	grip (as Franck Loizeau)
Luc Reyrolle	....	gaffer
Stéphane Rouillon	....	grip
Joel Spinola	....	gaffer (as Joël Spinola)
Michel Strasser	....	key grip
Vincent Tulasne	....	video assistant

Casting Department
Marie-France Michel	....	extras casting
Fanny Touya	....	casting assistant

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Aline Dupays	....	on-set costumer

Editorial Department
Clara Bouffartigue	....	trainee assistant editor
Beatrice Herminie	....	assistant editor (as Béatrice Herminie)
Marjolaine Mispelaere	....	color timer
Clara Salducci	....	trainee assistant editor

Music Department
Valérie Lindon	....	music supervisor
Stéphane Reichart	....	music scoring mixer

Other crew
Marie Barré	....	location scout
John Charles	....	software engineer: Sony DAC
Sylvie François	....	production secretary
François Hernandez	....	making-of director
Sandra Marthon	....	unit production assistant
Yann Nerot	....	production administrator
Agathe Sallabery	....	script supervisor (as Agathe Sallaberry)
Thierry Valletoux	....	reportage

Production Companies

• Les Films A4
• Canal+
• Eyescreen S.r.l.
• France 2 Cinéma
• Studio Canal

Distributors

• Mars Distribution (2004) (France) (theatrical)
• Studio Canal (2007) (France) (DVD)
• A-Film Distribution (2004) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Alfa Films (2005) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Cathay-Keris Films (2004) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Dendy Films (2005) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Festive Films (2004) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Filmladen (2004) (Austria) (theatrical)
• Frenetic Films (2004) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• GAGA (2004) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Orlando Films (2004) (Israel) (theatrical)
• Prokino Filmverleih (2004) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Sony Pictures Classics (2005) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Argentina Video Home (2005) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Argentina Video Home (2005) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Lucky Red (2004) (Italy) (all media)
• Melimedias (2004) (Belgium) (DVD)
• Melimedias (2004) (Belgium) (video)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (2005) (Germany) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Look at Me (International: English title) (USA)
Così fan tutti (Italy)
Like an Image (International: English title)
Cómo una imagen (Argentina) (International: Spanish title) (Spain) [es]
Schau mich an! (Austria) (Germany) [de]
Huomaa minut (Finland) [fi]
Look at Me (Denmark) [da]
Popatrz na mnie (Poland) [pl]
Questão de Imagem (Brazil) [pt]
San mia eikona (Greece) [el]
Se mig (Sweden) [sv]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for brief language and a sexual reference.

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

France | Italy

Language:

French | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Taiwan:GP | Switzerland:14 (canton of Zurich) | Hungary:14 | Iceland:L | South Korea:15 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Brazil:14 | Finland:S | France:U | Germany:o.Al. | Hong Kong:IIA | Netherlands:AL | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12A | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Menades, Yonne, France

Company:

Les Films A4

Trivia:

This film contains a clip from Blood on the Moon (1948).

Quotes:

Lolita Cassard: I'm hopeless !
Sébastien: We all are...
Lolita Cassard: Yes, but me more than others.

Movie Connections:

Features Blood on the Moon (1948)

An image to uphold!

The tremendously talented Agnes Jaoui, the director of "Look at Me", is a talented actress as well. The screen play is a collaboration with the principal actor in the film, Jean Pierre Bacri. The film's translation would have been better as "Like an Image", rather than the one it got. This is a film about disorientation and alienation between an impressionable young woman and her self centered father.

Young Lolita is a talented girl. She had tried to be an actress and now, as the film begins she is taking singing lessons. Her voice, indeed, is a powerful and beautiful instrument. Her music teacher, the kind Sylvia, has too much to do with all her students to pay particular attention to this plump, but pretty, girl until she hears about Lolita being the daughter of the influential Etienne Cassard.

The problem with Etienne is that he has married a younger woman who apparently loves him, but Karine has definite ideas about what is to have BCBG (bon chic, bon genre) among her circle. She's horrified to let her daughter have ice cream! Horreur! A chubby daughter, mais non! It is clear that Etienne couldn't care less for what happens to his older daughter, at the moment she most needs him. In a way, the image of the title is something this bourgeois man wants to maintain. He is one of the shallowest men in recent French movies! When at the end, during Lolita's triumphal recital, Etienne runs away from the church where the concert is being held, he does the ultimate coward act of his life; in a way he betrays the daughter who loves him and is trying to show she is worthy of his love.

The film is well written, but the problem is that some of the characters appear to be one dimensional people. There is no warmth whatsoever between anyone with the exception of the love that grows between Lolita and Sebastien, the young man that loves her in silence.

The lovely Marilou Berry makes a fabulous appearance. She is the only one in the film that gets our attention and compassion. Agnes Jaoui, is also the other one in the film that elicits our sympathy. Ms. Jaoui's Sylvia shows a complex woman turned off by all the shallowness around her, including her own husband Pierre. Jean Pierre Bacri, another excellent actor is given the terrible task to portray the horrible Etienne. The rest of the cast is good under Ms. Jaoui's direction.

This is a film that feels cold from beginning to end. That said, "Look at Me" offers us a good character study of the people that move in the literary circles, not only of France, but all over. No doubt the talented Ms. Jaoui's next time out will be even better!