Truth, beauty

Marguerite

Crit

Seems like an easy comedy setup: Marguerite Dumont (Catherine Frot) wants to sing in the worst way, and that's precisely what she does. But because she's a generous patron, neither her husband (André Marcon) nor the members of the Amadeus Club, the only audience she ever performs for, will tell her what she can't hear for herself. She is, in short, an operatic Norma Desmond, with a tin ear but a generous heart and a beautiful soul.

Therein lies the comedic rub: because of that beautiful soul, we want Marguerite shielded from the truth--or better yet, we'd like a miracle to transform her voice to match her soul. (Like Norma, Marguerite has a manservant who doubles as her chief protector from reality, though Madelbos [Denis Mpunga] is a more complicated character than Max.)

The film extends its final act far beyond what's necessary, but apart from that, it is a nearly perfect piece of work, winner of 4 Césars (including one for Frot) and nominated for 7 more. Since it's showing up in the States early in the year, I assume it has already missed its Oscar shot, but it's hard to imagine that France had anything better than this to nominate. Oh, right: France nominated Mustang; well, that was damn good too.