Wow, what a little film. Now I need to see The 400 Blows.
Even moreso than The Player this feels like a genuine glimpse behind the scenes of filmmaking. I love how it wears its influences on its sleeve, with Severine mentioning Fellini early on and the closeup shots of the books on film (Hitchcock, Bergman amongst others) and, of course, the dream sequence. How surprised was I to see the French guy from Close Encounters of the Third Kind only to research him and discover he was a famous director that died tragically young.
Speaking of the director, I love his style. Lots of steady-cam and continuous shots without cuts gave the film a Cinéma vérité feel that I appreciated. The dream sequence was fascinating as well; did Ferrand feel like he was stealing from Orson Welles? The dreams (as well as the few voice-overs) gave brief glimpses into a character with an otherwise unflappable veneer.
Jacqueline Bisset is breathtaking, although I feel like we didn't spend enough time with her character to understand her motivation in the third act. Jean-Pierre Léaud looks like a skinny, French Christian Bale and is incredibly whiny and yet endearing as Alphonse. I appreciated that although half the cast played melancholy characters, the tone is kept relatively light and not judgmental. There's a running theme throughout of the importance of art vs. life, and whether or not actors can exist in both worlds.
