The story about a neglected, overweight - yet talented singer – daughter attempting to get her famous author father to accept her for who she is and to love her just the same is depicted in this French dramatic-comedy.

CRITIQUE

Lolita Cassard (Marilou Berry, who resembles Ricki Lake) is a young woman and the eldest daughter to a world-famous author, Etienne (Jean-Pierre Bacri), whose second marriage to trophy wife Karine (Virginie Desarnauts) takes up much of his time attempting to raise their young daughter despite Etienne's penchant for being an egotistical, short-fused, caustic snob whose arrogance is only outweighed by his celebrity, which is another bone of dissension for the desperate Lolita.  Lolita resents her 'stepmother' (her biological mother apparently leaving the brood behind and of questionable mental state) and feels she has to mirror her overweight bearings to the reed thin, well-intending yet vain Karine, who too feels neglected by her husband - who she is secretly afraid of and is tormented to leave him since he fails to see just how his face registers anger - tries to keep the peace but like Etienne is unaware of Lolita's gift as a singer.

Lolita is part of a small choir group that is organizing a recital for presentation and since her self-esteem is an all-time low in attempting to have her dad see she too is an artiste, enlists a vocal teacher named Sylvia (Agnes Jaoui, making her directorial debut). Sylvia worships Etienne - thinking he's an amazing artist and all the while is married to a struggling writer named Pierre Millet (Laurent Grevill), whose own ego doesn't see just how lucky he is to have such a loving wife as Sylvia, with his roving sexual eye out for any hot young thing that comes his way.  When Sylvia learns that her pupil is the daughter of Etienne her tune changes in her decision to do the job and finds herself invited for a weekend outing as guests of Lolita.

Also included on the trip is a shy, odd young man named Sebastien (Keine Bouhiza), that Lolita meets cute: he's in a drunken seizure on the street outside of a film premiere for one of her father's adaptations to the screen.  Her kind (well, frankly her absent-minded one) gesture of covering him up as she is finally allowed into the red-carpet affair (she is so invisible her family leaves her behind and the bouncer will not let her by).  When he finds her a few days later to return the coat they become friendly and Lolita offers him some money to get buy as well; what does she care, it's her father's anyway.

What follows is an observational 'comic' drama with shades of Woody Allen without the self-depreciative wit and existential angst/neuroses.  I found it very repetitive, dull and non-engrossing with some truly obnoxious characters (I get it Lolita, you're fat and unloved yet you strike out at others just like daddy; move on!) and Sebastien is a doormat to the mopey, self-absorbed Lolita.  

The title/theme is basic: being transparent to the outside (and inner) circles that we as a society attempt to pierce even especially with those we love and wish would love back.  It's universal but rather dead-in-the-water.  I really didn't care for any of the main characters at all and just found myself becoming more and more of a French hater (exception to the rule is Amelie for me).  I am not familiar with any of the actors and the screenplay by Jaoui, who collaborated with her co-star Bacri, leaves a lot to be desired in spite of it winning the Cannes Film Festival Best Screenplay last year.

THE VIDEO

Standard anamorphic widescreen with 2.35:1 aspect ratio.  Nothing much to rave about; average cinematography with a rather pallid display of mobility or editing for that matter.

THE AUDIO

French in 5.1 Dolby Digital with English and Spanish subtitles.

THE EXTRAS

Thankfully deleted scenes that add nothing to the narrative, a laboriously mind-numbing Making-of featurette without any commentaries what-so-ever that runs an hour, which is nearly half the film's own run time!

FINAL THOUGHT

Rental for only French die-hards, otherwise a skippable affair altogether.