Everyone is the star of their own movie. “Marguerite,” a 1920s socialite, sang opera in hers.
She imagined herself a mezzo-soprano or perhaps a contralto. Her stage was her estate.
She would perform at charity events in a voice that sent men to the smoking room, caused children to hide under tables and the peacocks that wandered the grounds screeching a mating call in reply.
She was a legend in her own mind but the consensus was that her voice was terrible. And her wealth and position meant that no one had the courage to tell her so. Not even her unfaithful husband.
A faithful and protective butler helps her stage scenes from famous operas which he photographs. She even mistakes the attention of a collection of impertinent avant-garde artists and anarchists – who promote her as a symbol of the culturally corrupt status quo – for admiration and affection, which it becomes over time.
But as a pretentious voice coach and a favorable review meant to be ironic encourage her to step out onto the public stage the balloons that hold her dreams aloft are about to burst.
“Marguerite” is loosely inspired by an actual person and due for a remake starring – you guessed it – Meryl Streep. Writer director Xavier Giannoli, creates a lightly comic and bittersweet tale about art and talent being in the eye of the beholder. But its impact is tempered by its length and a romantic subplot that doesn’t come to life.
Catherine Frot (“The Dinner Game,” “Haute Cuisine”), however, manages to make the self-delusion Marguerite single mindedly pursues less “Grey Gardens” tragic than noble and fragile.
*** Three stars
With Catherine Frot, Georges Dumont, Michel Fau, Christa Theret, Denis Mpunga, Sylvain Dieuaide, Aubert Fenoy.
Produced by Olivier Delbosc, Marc Missonnier.
Written and directed by Xavier Giannoli
Approximate running time: 127 minutes. Rated R; brief nudity, sexual content, drug use.
In French with English subtitles.
Opens Friday at the Downer Theater.
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