The opening scene of this classy and well-written French film sets the mood for what follows. A woman gets into a taxi cab, and the driver puts on some loud music. She tries to talk on her cell phone and finds it nearly impossible to do so. She asks him to please turn down the music. No response. When another couple joins her in the cab, the man gets upset with the tone of the driver's voice and lays into him verbally.

The setting is Paris but it could be anywhere in the world where incivility reigns and all courtesy seems to have vanished. Later, a young man puts his backpack where it blocks the aisle in a restaurant, and another patron nearly stumbles over it. He then gets so angry that he wants to fight the young man. All around us people are venting their anger and irritation in strident ways. The same rush to judgment and rage is evident in business dealings and intimate relationships. This is only one of the many themes dealt with in this fascinating film directed by Agnes Jaoui and co-written with Jean-Pierre Bacri (The Taste of Others).

Lolita (Marilou Berry) is a 20-year-old singer who is trying to find out what she can do best. She is also desperately attempting to win the approval of her father, Etienne Cassard (Jean-Pierre Bacri), a famous writer and publisher. Lolita's stepmother, Karine (Virginie Desarnauts), has her own struggles with her judgmental husband who is never satisfied with anyone. She claims he doesn't even notice when she is with him. Etienne patronizes his chubby daughter by always calling her "my big girl" with the accent on "big." When she gives him a tape of some songs she has recorded, he sets it aside without listening to it.

Lolita's latest boyfriend is another in a long succession of young men who only date her so they can get to her famous father for some favor. When she meets Sebastien (Keine Bouhiza), a journalist, her expectations are very low. It takes a lot of effort on his part to prove her wrong. The one person in her life that Lolita admires is Sylvia (Agnes Jaoui), a teacher at the music conservatory. This middle-aged woman is married to Pierre (Laurent Grevill), a struggling novelist whose latest book has not achieved the acclaim that he hoped for. When Sylvia learns the identity of Lolita's father, she is more inclined to help her prepare for a concert of songs from Monteverdi and Handel than she had been. Etienne writes a favorable review of Pierre's book and launches him on a rising tide of acclaim and celebrityhood. Of course, this sudden fame has negative fallout for Edith (Michele Moretti), a woman who has been promoting his work for years and for a friend whose collaborative effort with him on a new book must be put on the back burner.

Agnes Jaoui has made an engaging film about the sharp edges of competition and criticism in the literary world. At the center of this drama is Etienne, an acerbic man who wields great power and treats those who are in his inner circle with disdain. This includes his beautiful wife, his daughter, and an assistant who has been with him for years. The screenwriters have such great affection for their characters that even this thoughtless and selfish man is shown to have his own anxieties and disappointments. His fame has left him very little time to write. Sylvia is also treated with tenderness once she experiences the lashes of Etienne's tongue. Equally impressive are the changes that take place in Lolita once she realizes that she can no longer look to her father for the emotional support she needs in her musical career.


Screened at the 42st New York Film Festival, Lincoln Center, October 2004.