Rock’n Roll (2017)

Directed by: Guillaume Canet | 123 minutes | comedy, music | Actors: Guillaume Canet, Marion Cotillard, Philippe Lefebvre, Gilles Lellouche, Camille Rowe, Kev Adams, Ben Foster, Maxim Nucci, Yarol Poupaud, Yvan Attal, Alain Attal, Johnny Hallyday, Laeticia Hallyday, Tifenn Michel-Borgey, Fabrice Lamy

A French film with the title ‘Rock’n Roll’ may not immediately ring a bell, but the lives of famous actors do of course have interfaces with the lifestyle in question – also in the serious French art world, with its highly developed film industry. ‘Rock’n Roll’ is a satire about the behind-the-scenes world, where real and movie crushes flow smoothly, even when actors play father and daughter. It is a situational talk film, which can quickly cause irritation because of the navel-gazing character of the main character. This is hard to avoid when talking about film actors, but the viewer is often not a film insider and ‘Rock’n Roll’ seems to serve the latter group first of all.

Director and lead actor Guillaume Canet (‘The Beach’) plays an actor of the same name with a midlife crisis. A young flower must work wonders; real-life partner Marion Cotillard plays his wife, improvised with a comical accent. Little new under the sun, let’s just say spielerei for top artists; after an hour you will know. The French satire is also not so far in our prefrontal cortex that we as a Dutch viewer can form an image of it. Canet is experienced enough, but turns out not to have too much comedic talent, while the supporting cast (with the exception of Cotillard and Camille Rowe) is not top notch.

One moment we see a caricatural sex scene; the next shows Canet as a Woody Allen clone. A Johnny Hallyday cameo doesn’t bring any depth either. There are also good things, like Cotillard, who steals the show in terms of acting alone and the ending is quite nice. But such a film costs a lot and washes a bit, perhaps only the empty agenda space of Canet, who after directing the Hollywood film ‘Blood Ties’ (remake of ‘Les liens du sang’) in 2014 does not reveal much anymore. did. It’s going too far to say that Canet is riding the waves of Cotillard’s success, but it’s starting to show a bit of Guy Ritchie traits. If necessary, we have a place to sleep; you can guess who.