As megastar Lauren, Seigner (who also sings) is a plausibly charismatic mix of ego and neurosis, while de Besco is outstanding as teenager Lucie.
Comment
02/09/06
Backstage (2006)
70 %
Reviews Counted: 20 Fresh: 14 Rotten:6 Average Rating: 6.2/10
Runtime: 1 hr 55 mins
Synopsis: Isild Le Besco plays a starstruck teenage girl in this dramatic exploration of celebrity. When pop star Lauren Waks (Emmanuelle Seigner, BUDDY BOY) shows up on the doorstep of Lucie's (Le Besco) home, reality TV crew in tow, Lucie is publicly humiliated. Afterwards, she seeks to make a... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Emmanuelle Seigner, Islid Le Besco, Noemie Lvovsky, Valery Zeitoun, Samuel Benchetrit
Director: Emmaneulle Bercot
Reviews
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Top Critic
Backstage doesn't really tell us much about the world of rock musicians, or the mental workings of their scariest fans.
03/08/07
A weakly conceived drama with a central performance that serves as the final nail in the coffin.
02/10/07
Backstage reveals a tender, creepy transaction between idol and idolator.
02/02/07
Top Critic
From that very first scene, which plays like a berserk fantasy erupting into the movie's 'reality,' I found Backstage almost impossible to believe.
02/01/07
Spine-tingling suspense comes from a young girl ... undeterred by a star's confession that she really can't offer any of the validation that her fans so desperately crave.
02/01/07
My problem is with Isild Le Besco: She tends to be a bit of a blank and doesn't project any sort of personality. Her blandness may seem appropriate for the roles in which she is cast, but when she is on screen, the movie comes to a dead halt.
01/11/07
A complex psychological thriller that serves as a modern-day, darker variation on All About Eve.
12/28/06
Top Critic
An enjoyably overwrought meditation on the consequences of celebrity and the vicissitudes of fandom.
12/14/06
Backstage's main problem is [director] Bercot's insistence on pumping an essentially comic story full of existential dread.
12/02/06
While le Besco and Seigner are always interesting, the familiar material isn't worth the detour.
12/01/06
There's a pleasing tension in the air as their relationship comes to seem like something of a contest: With two women this needy, who will out-crazy the other?
11/24/06
When Lauren (Emmanuelle Seigner) unwisely allows her biggest fan, Lucie (Isild Le Besco ), into her life, we know that little good can come of it.
11/23/06
Top Critic
The real fun of the piece, however, is Seigner, who plays the downhill diva to the hilt, throwing cell phones and tantrums that would put Naomi Campbell to shame.
11/22/06
Director Emmanuelle Bercot's film offers a fascinating account of how a vulnerable star might mistake fan worship for something real.
11/22/06
A creepy look at the borderline personalities on both sides of the line between celebrity and citizen.
11/22/06
Depicting the thorny relationship shared by pop star and fan, Backstage radiates not the nostalgic sentimentality of Almost Famous but raw, pathetic, obsessive desperation.
11/21/06
Almost unnervingly feral in the same vein as actresses Samantha Morton or Sylvie Testud, [Isild] Le Besco's hysterically-pitched outbursts overpower everyone else onscreen, even Emmanuelle Seigner's boozy, uninhibited Lauren.
11/17/06
Undeniably rousing... Seigner shows astonishing range... Even more tremendous is Le Besco, whose blank, teary-eyed gazes and guarded battles against her own immaturity feel painfully frank.
07/13/06
Backstage at times has an operatic emotional intensity that will turn off some viewers but provide a guilty pleasure for others.
09/22/05
Top Critic1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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