Balibar, well-known as an actress and singer, left none of her talents unused in her directing debut. In this eclectic homage to Greek tragedy, Balibar and Léon are free of any convention. With a cameo by Barbet Schroeder.
Jeanne Balibar and Pierre Léon roam in tourist outfits through Paris and prepare a play with a producer who keeps changing her clothes. In a parallel world, another layer if you wish, actors rehearse their texts for a Greek tragedy on the beach at Deauville and at prominent Parisian locations. It is the story of Electra, probably a rather inefficient character, one who perseveres and refuses to give up the battle against injustice.
This absurd, slightly surrealist and occasionally humorous film looks like a theatre performance with its solemn dialogues and mise-en-scène issues. The makers, the actress Balibar and filmmaker Léon, however also use the medium by inserting screenshots of business e-mails – reflections on their plans. In addition, Balibar is a singer and she sings the texts as if the e-mails were edifying lieder. Electra, for Instance is, as one of the characters puts it, a true ‘culture souq’. –IFFR
As one who carries equal weight in Europe for her activities as an actress, comedienne, and chanteuse, consummate French performer Jeanne Balibar enjoyed cinematic popularity for many years that remained confined to her native continent, but subsequently began branching out into international crossover acclaim. Balibar debuted onscreen in the mid-‘90s with bit parts in such Gallic features as La Croisade d’Anne Buridan (1995) and My Sex Life…or How I Got into an Argument (1996), but ascended to supporting billing the following year with a plum role in Mathieu Amalric’s Mange Ta Soupe (1997). Balibar first turned festival heads several years later, as Madame Santero, one of Le Vicomte De Lancris’ (Jean-Pierre Cassel) lovers, in Sade (2000), Benoît Jacquot’s quintessentially French take on the story of the famous titular masochist. By the following year, Balibar was making headlines for her lead contributions to such arthouse hits as Jacques Rivette’s Va Savoir (2001, as a theatrical… read more
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14 world and 14 international premieres from around the globe.
