20 year-old Lolita (Marilou Berry) aspires to be a singer.
More than this, she desperately wants attention - any attention - from her father Étienne (Jean-Pierre Bacri), a self-absorbed novelist whose neglect of his daughter and rudeness to those around him borders on the cruel.
Overweight and lacking in self-confidence, Marilou isn't helped by her assumption that those who befriend her view her only as a route to her famous and successful father.
This certainly seems true of Lolita's singing teacher Sylvia (Agnès Jaoui), whose husband Pierre (Laurent Grévill) is an aspiring writer himself.
And although Sébastien (Keine Bouhiza), whom Lolita meets by chance, seems genuine in his intentions, Lolita's fragile self-esteem and obsession with her father seem destined to thwart any future they might have.
Emotionally damaged, self-serving or merely flawed, this ensemble of eminently believable characters is superbly played under Agnès Jaoui's fluid direction.
Add in an intelligent and witty screenplay (co-written by Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri) and you have a poignant yet subtly comical film that goes to the heart of the issue of fame and the affect on those in and around its spotlight.
If this were Hollywood, you might expect a sugar-coated resolution to the relationship difficulties portrayed.
Here, the characters remain true to themselves and the integrity of the film.
© Copyright Diana Betts / Film247.net 2004
