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by Max Braden Published: August 15, 2005
Official websiteRated PG-13 1 hour 51 min. French with English subtitles DVD Release: August 9, 2005  New on dvd this week is the French film "Look At Me" ("Comme une image"), which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004 and arrived in U.S. theaters in April 2005. It shows the intertwining lives of four characters with the attitude that the grass is always greener on the other side. The main character is Lolita (Marilou Berry), a college-aged girl who wants to become a classical singer. She's not bad to look at but weighs on the heavy side, and is fed up with her treatment of others because of her average appearance. When people do seem to want her company, it eventually turns out that they're just using her for access to her famous father, Étienne (Jean-Pierre Bacri, also the story's co-writer). This is made worse because even Étienne pays no attention to his daughter. She gives him a tape of herself singing and asks him to listen, but he never does and is dismissive of her dreams as just another fad. The only thing he does pay attention to are young pretty women, one of whom is his second wife Karine (Virginie Desarnauts), not much older than Lolita. When a young man, Sebastian, shows interest in Lolita, she nearly drives him away by projecting her insecurities onto his motives.
Meanwhile, Lolita's singing teacher, Sylvia (Agnès Jaoui, also the film's director and co-writer), is just about ready to limit her work with Lolita when Sylvia finds out that Lolita's father is her favorite author. She seeks to use this fact to get close to Étienne and to encourage her husband Pierre (Laurent Grévill). Pierre is a writer whose career is just starting to take off. However, he is full of doubt about the quality of his own writing and the prospects for his own career despite the praise and attention he's beginning to receive.
SPECIAL FEATURES The film is in French language with the choice of English or Spanish subtitles. Standard scene selection is available, and there are two Previews: for World War II comedy-drama "Bon Voyage" (which I found irritating at best) and the animated comedy "The Triplets of Belleville," which was nominated for Oscars in Best Song and Best Animated Feature. Both titles are currently available on dvd. There are two Special Features on the disk: The Making of Look at Me, and Deleted Scenes. There are eight deleted scenes, most of which are really extended scenes and don't add much to the movie. The Making of Look at Me actually gave me a better appreciation for the characters. It is an hour long view in segments of the production. We see how Marilou Berry's singing is dubbed, actually performed by Alexandra Rubner on set and mouthed to match. And director Agnès Jaoui frequently acts out scenes for her actors to show them the subtext she wants. Grade: Movie: C DVD Content: C
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