Backstage (2005)

70% of critics liked it
(20 reviews)
53% of users liked it
(1,030 ratings)

Celebrity obsession leads a French teen to track down her favorite singer following a disastrous staged television encounter between the pair in the feature debut from director Emmanuelle Bercot. The music of pop superstar Lauren (Emmanuelle Seigner) has a profound effect on the quiet life of teen… More Celebrity obsession leads a French teen to track down her favorite singer following a disastrous staged television encounter between the pair in the feature debut from director Emmanuelle Bercot. The music of pop superstar Lauren (Emmanuelle Seigner) has a profound effect on the quiet life of teen admirer Lucie (Isild Le Besco), but when Lauren suddenly appears on Lucie's doorstep as part of a promotional campaign, the starstruck teen is left reeling when her idol serenades her with a love song in front of millions of viewers. Determined to have a genuine encounter with her idol sans the media circus, Lucie subsequently sets out to locate Lauren and hoodwinks the singer's tough-as-nails production assistant (Noemie Lvovsky) into allowing her into the mixed-up megastar's luxury suite. After the pair bonds over Lauren's latest breakup, the singer agrees to take her fan in as a low-level errand girl. Now, as the disillusioned teen begins to see past the glamorous facade to discover that fame has little bearing over emotional instability, she gradually begins to realize that the celebrity world is much different than she ever imagined. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 55 min.
Directed By: Emmanuelle Bercot
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Nov 22, 2006 Wide
On DVD: Apr 3, 2007
Studio: Strand Releasing

Critic Reviews

Steve Murray, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Backstage doesn't really tell us much about the world of rock musicians, or the mental workings of their scariest fans.
Bill Stamets, Chicago Sun-Times
Backstage reveals a tender, creepy transaction between idol and idolator.
Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
From that very first scene, which plays like a berserk fantasy erupting into the movie's 'reality,' I found Backstage almost impossible to believe.
Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter
A complex psychological thriller that serves as a modern-day, darker variation on All About Eve.
Kyle Smith, New York Post
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?
Stephen Holden, New York Times
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.
Peter Sobczynski, eFilmCritic.com
A weakly conceived drama with a central performance that serves as the final nail in the coffin.
Matt Pais, Metromix.com
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.
Ted Murphy, Murphy's Movie Reviews
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.
Jessica Grose, L.A. Weekly
An enjoyably overwrought meditation on the consequences of celebrity and the vicissitudes of fandom.
Noel Murray, AV Club
Backstage's main problem is [director] Bercot's insistence on pumping an essentially comic story full of existential dread.
Doris Toumarkine, Film Journal International
While le Besco and Seigner are always interesting, the familiar material isn't worth the detour.
Ken Fox, TV Guide's Movie Guide
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.
Peter Canavese, Groucho Reviews
A creepy look at the borderline personalities on both sides of the line between celebrity and citizen.
Nick Schager, Slant Magazine
Depicting the thorny relationship shared by pop star and fan, Backstage radiates not the nostalgic sentimentality of Almost Famous but raw, pathetic, obsessive desperation.
Kent Turner, Film-Forward.com
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.
Aaron Hillis, Premiere Magazine
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.
Ben Walters, Time Out
As megastar Lauren, Seigner (who also sings) is a plausibly charismatic mix of ego and neurosis, while de Besco is outstanding as teenager Lucie.

Read all 18 critic reviews

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Walter M

[font=Century Gothic]"Backstage" starts with Lucie(Isild Le Besco), a teenager who lives with her mother(Edith Le Merdy) and younger brother, being ambushed at home by a reality television program which has arranged to have her favorite singer, Lauren(Emmanuelle Seigner),… More
[font=Century Gothic]"Backstage" starts with Lucie(Isild Le Besco), a teenager who lives with her mother(Edith Le Merdy) and younger brother, being ambushed at home by a reality television program which has arranged to have her favorite singer, Lauren(Emmanuelle Seigner), serenade her. Lucie flips out, and not in a good way, barricading herself in her room, therefore sabotaging the program. While there, Lucie and Lauren have a brief exchange which causes Lucie to bolt to Paris to chase after her idol. Persistent, she tracks down Lauren to her hotel suite where her personal assistant, Juliette(Noemie Lvovsky), assists in opening a door or two...[/font] [font=Century Gothic]"Backstage" is a deeply unsettling and riveting psychodrama that is anchored by two great performances from its leads, complementing each other perfectly. It starts out with the viciously ugly spectacle of reality television(At first, I thought the ambush was a police raid. Was this intentional?) before moving on to an incisive examination of fame and celebrity. Before the film starts, Lucie was probably just a normal teenager who like others of her age felt that Lauren was singing only to her.(Although most young music fans are probably polytheistic, not monotheistic.) Her meeting with Lauren reinforces this belief, thus unleashing a force that takes her out of her ordinary world and places her in Lauren's. And the singer who was once thrilled to perform for her fans, is now a shadow of her former self, trapped in a hotel suite, and relying on prescription medication to get her through the day which puts a great strain on her symbiotic relationship with her entourage. [/font]