The film follows the titular psychiatrist (Virginie Efira) who has decided to end her practice to author a book while one of the few patients she has is an actress embroiled in an affair with her co-star where Sibyl becomes enamored with her to the point that the woman becomes an inspiration to her novel. It is a film that explores the life of a woman who is trying to restart her writing career as she ended her psychiatry practice while retaining a few patients including this up-and-coming actress who has found herself in an affair with her co-star just as she’s about to go to Italy to make a film that she’s starring in. The film’s screenplay by Justine Triet and Arthur Harari has an offbeat narrative as it relates to Sibyl who is trying to write a book yet she often looks back at elements of her own past including a tumultuous relationship with her former flame Gabriel (Niels Schneider) whom she hadn’t seen in years while she cares for their daughter Selma (Jeanne Arra-Bellanger) with her husband Etienne (Paul Hamy) whom she shares another daughter with him in Livia (Liv Harari).
The script plays into Sibyl’s own struggles in writing while thinking about her past as her meeting with the actress Margot Vasilis (Adele Exarchopoulos) would give her ideas with her book though her mentor/shrink Dr. Katz (Arthur Harari) feels that it is a bad idea as well as being unethical in her profession. Sibyl would get calls from Margot who starts to unravel emotionally and mentally where Sibyl reluctantly travels to the island of Stromboli to be onset to help Margot who is having an affair with co-star in Igor Maleski (Gaspard Ulliel) although he is married to the film’s director Mikaela “Mika” Sanders (Sandra Huller). Sibyl’s presence would only add more chaos to the production where Mika would unravel at one point where Sibyl ponders if she has gone too far in the lives of people while also dealing with those who are in her life such as her husband, children, and sister Edith (Laure Calamy).
Triet’s direction is stylish for not just its unconventional narrative but also in the fact that it is set in Paris with one key sequence set in the Italian volcano island of Stromboli and its nearby locations. Triet opens the film where Sibyl talks to a colleague about ending her practice at a sushi restaurant as it sets the stage for the messiness that is to occur in the film. While there are some wide shots that Triet uses to play into the locations, much of the Triet’s direction emphasizes on close-ups and medium shots as it plays into the way characters interact with one another including some of the flashbacks in Sibyl’s life. Notably in scenes where she is with Gabriel as they are life-long friends though their romantic and sexual relationship would eventually become troubled with Edith expressing concern since Sibyl does not say much about the death of their mother. Triet also creates these unique compositions that also has this sense of repetition in the way the actors are framed as it play into Sibyl’s own sense of isolation. Even as Triet highlight a woman becoming obsessed with her new patient as the only other patient she has is a child in Daniel (Adrien Bellemare) whom she plays board games with to get him to talk.
Triet would also play into the chaos that goes in the making of a film once Sibyl arrives to Italy where she is there to help Margot who has become depressed and despondent. Even to the point where she would only listen to Sibyl who would be on a set to direct Margot that only adds the turmoil in the production. The film’s third act does not just play into Sibyl going too far into her involvement during a film shoot where Mika unravels but also an aftermath that highlights Sibyl coming to terms with her presence in an already combustible situation. Notably as she returns to France where the past would return as her obsession in creating a book about Margot would also cost her own sanity and morality. Triet does maintain this tone that is messy in its offbeat narrative, yet it works to play into a woman who realized she had gone too far in her obsession. Overall, Triet crafts a gripping and rapturous film about a woman finding a muse for her novel only to be caught up in that woman’s life and her own tumultuous past.
Cinematographer Simon Beaufils does brilliant work with the film’s cinematography with its low-key approach to lighting for many of the film’s nighttime interior scenes as well as some natural lighting for the daytime interior/exterior scenes. Editor Laurent Senechal does excellent work with the editing in the usage of straight rhythmic cuts to play into the drama and suspense as well as a few jump cuts to play into some of the film’s minimal humor. Production designer Toma Baqueni does amazing work with the look of Sibyl’s apartment that she lives with her family as well as her office where she meets with remaining patients she has and the villa she would stay in Italy. Costume designer Virginie Montel does fantastic work with the costumes with the women often wearing stylish clothing as well as some casual clothing while Igor would also wear some stylish and expensive clothing.
Makeup artist Sandra Campisi does terrific work with the makeup as it is minimal work into the look of the characters in the way they would appear in a film. Special effects supervisor Guy Monbillard and visual effects supervisor Hugues Namur do nice work with the film’s minimal effects for a few scenes at Stromboli as well as scenes of the film within a film. Sound editor Ingrid Simon does superb work with the sound in the way a location sounds up-close and from afar as well as the way music sounds during a film shoot. Music supervisor Thibault Deboaisne creates a fun music soundtrack that mixes all kinds of music in contributions from Nina Simone, the Raconteurs, Benoit Daniel, The Les Humphrie Singers, Roy Orbison, and some classical pieces by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Vivaldi.
The casting by Cynthia Arra and Laure Ballarin is wonderful as it feature some notable small roles from Aurelien Bellanger as an editor for Sibyl’s book, Lorenzo Lefebvre as the assistant director Galotin, Jeanne Arra-Bellanger and Liv Harari as Sibyl’s daughters in Selma and Livia respectively, and Adrien Bellemare as a young patient of Sibyl in Daniel as a child who loves to play board games as a way to talk about his problems. Arthur Harari is superb as Sibyl’s psychiatrist/mentor Dr. Katz who believes that Sibyl is putting herself in danger in involving herself with Margot’s life. Paul Hamy is terrific as Sibyl’s husband Etienne as a house-husband who stays home to watch over the children while coping with her distant behavior. Laure Calamy is fantastic as Sibyl’s sister Edith who also helps Etienne in taking care of Sibyl’s kids as she is someone still coping with the death of their mother as well as her own issues towards Sibyl including her past relationship with Gabriel.
Niels Schneider is excellent as Sibyl’s former flame Gabriel as he is seen in flashbacks as someone who was passionately in love with her only to feel slighted over her choice of career over their happiness where he would not see her again for years. Sandra Huller is brilliant as Mika as a film director trying to make a film with her husband Igor and Margot as she deals with the chaos in shooting as well as Margot’s behavior as she would become unhinged by Sibyl’s presence leading to a breakdown during a shoot. Gaspard Ulliel is amazing as Igor as a film star whom Margot is sleeping with even though he is married to the film’s director they are working on as he is charming but also is willing to get his way where he would put Sibyl into a moral quandary.
Adele Exarchopoulos is incredible as Margot Vasilis as a young actress about to get her break as she finds herself in an affair with Igor that would result in a lot of complicated issues where Exarchopoulos displays a sense of despair and angst of a woman who needs help with her own issues. Finally, there’s Virginie Efira in a phenomenal performance as the titular character as a psychiatrist who decided to end her practice, save for a few clients, to return to writing where she finds inspiration through Margot although finds herself becoming more involved with Margot’s tumultuous life where she is also forced to deal with the chaos in her own past. Efira and Exarchopoulos are the major highlights of the film in terms of the way they deal with themselves as well as their need for each other with the latter being this force of nature in the film’s second half while the former maintains this strong front only to eventually unravel where the two together bring out the best in each other.
Sibyl is a sensational film by Justine Triet as it features great performances from both Virginie Efira and Adele Exarchopoulos. Along with its supporting cast, gorgeous visuals, a wondrous music soundtrack, and its study of obsession and morality. It is a film that is not afraid to be flawed in its presentation of its characters as well as displaying what a woman will do to get inspiration for her novel only to realize own unethical decisions that would force her to deal with her own past. In the end, Sibyl is a phenomenal film by Justine Triet.
Justine Triet Films: Age of Panic - In Bed with Victoria - Anatomy of a Fall
© thevoid99 2024
The film follows a young girl who is asked to attend a summer weekend hockey camp with her two friends until she gets news from them that would change everything where she deals with new emotions as well as the need to fit in with members of an elite high school hockey team. It is a film that explores a young girl becoming a teenager with her emotional avatars trying to figure out how to adjust to this new phase in her life while dealing with four new emotional avatars who are trying to take over. The film’s screenplay by Meg LaFauve and Dave Holstein, with additional contributions from Ronnie del Carmen, explore the five key emotions in Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Tony Hale), and Disgust (Liza Lapira) who are overseeing the emotional state of Riley Andersen (Kensington Tallman) while they have created a new section under their main console in a tree-like series of threads known as Sense of Self that gives Riley her identity and personality. When the puberty alarm goes off, the team deals with not just their headquarters becoming shambolic but also meeting four new emotional avatars in Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Ennui (Adele Exarchopoulos), and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser).
The new team led by Anxiety is trying to come up with many scenarios that she believes would hurt Riley leading to a power struggle in which Joy and her team are cast out along with their symbol of Riley’s Sense of Self that is discarded along with a mountain of bad memories forcing Joy and the gang on a new quest to return to headquarters. It is in this journey where Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust all work together to try and stop Anxiety from creating a sense of chaos where Riley wouldn’t just alienate her friends but also try to win over the team’s captain Val (Lilimar) for a spot in their elite hockey team. The script also has more development in the characters in which Fear, Disgust, and Anger do bring in more ideas with Joy becoming overwhelmed in trying to maintain her optimism while Sadness finds a way to return to headquarters and take control of Joy’s new discarding device that would allow their Sense of Self to return. Still, things become more complicated with Anxiety trying to steer Riley into a place where she feels she can be accepted that only adds to more problems.
Kelsey Mann’s direction is broad in its overall presentation where she expands this world that Riley’s mind is in as there are more islands that represent her personality with the Sense of Self being an underground where memories could be stored in a river and create new threads. With the aid of animation directors David Torres and Amanda Wagner and character designers Dean Heezen and Deanna Marsigliese, Mann creates a world that is vast where the main headquarters where Joy and her team are overseeing Riley’s emotional and mental state while the room where Riley’s memories are planted for the Sense of Self tree is world that is unique until Anxiety and her team would take over where there is a shift in tone in the film as well as the look of the Sense of Self tree that Anxiety has created. Mann’s compositions in the wide and medium shots do add to the sense of wonderment in the world. They include the scenes outside of headquarters where Riley’s memories are stored and archived including a vault where Riley’s secrets are held.
With the aid of cinematographers Adam Habib and Jonathan Pytko, production designer Jason Deamer, along with art directors Rona Liu, Laura Meyer, Keiko Murayama, Joshua West, and Bill Zahn, and visual effects supervisor Sudeep Rangaswamy, Mann would create new variations of worlds including Imagination Land that Joy and Sadness used to go but Anxiety’s arrival has changed things. Joy and the gang would also meet a couple of 2D hand-drawn animated characters in Bloofy (Ron Fuches) who was a character that Riley liked as a kid as well as Floofy’s assistant Pouchy (James Austin Johnson) as it adds to this sense of surrealism to what Joy and her team would deal with. The sense of lighting and mindfulness in Riley’s face adds to the complexity of her emotions where Mann really plays into the ideas of emotional and mental chaos. Even where Joy faces realizations in what Anxiety is trying to do along with Envy, Ennui, and Embarrassment where these nine emotions all play a role in Riley in who she is and what she can be. Overall, Mann crafts a rich and evocative film about emotional avatars dealing with the complexities of a girl becoming a teenager.
Editor Maurissa Horwitz does brilliant work with the editing as it is straightforward to play into the humor and action while allowing shots to linger for some of the dramatic moments in the film. Sound designer Ren Klyce and sound editor Coya Elliott do amazing work with the sound as it plays into some unique sound effects as well as how a keyboard sounds in a device that Anxiety uses. The film’s music by Andrea Datzman is wonderful as it features variations of Michael Giacchino’s themes while creating some flourishing and bombastic orchestral pieces along with some electronic bits while the music soundtrack features some mixture of pop and indie music including a song by the Linda Lindas.
The casting by Natalie Lyon and Kevin Reher is incredible as it features some notable small voice appearances from Flea, Paula Poundstone, and Bobby Moynihan as a few characters Joy and her team bump into, Frank Oz and Dave Goelz as a couple of mind cops, John Ratzenberger and Kirk Thatcher as a couple of construction people who destroy headquarters to create something new for the new avatars, Pete Docter as Dad’s Anger, Paula Pell as Mom’s Anger, Grace Lu and Sumayyah Nuridden-Green as Riley’s best friends in Grace and Bree respectively, Lilimar as the hockey team captain Val, Yvette Nicole Brown as Coach Roberts as the head of the hockey camp who takes the progress of her players seriously, and the duo of Kyle MacLachlan and Diane Lane as Riley’s parents who both deal with the fact that Riley is now a teenager with their emotional avatars realizing they’re about to enter a bumpy ride. The duo of Ron Fuches and James Austin Johnson are fantastic in their respective roles as the 2-D hand-drawn cartoon characters Bloofy and Pouchy whom Joy and her team meet in the back of the mind as they are childhood idols of Riley.
Yong Yea and Steve Purcell are superb in their respective roles as the video game character Lance Slashblade, who was a secret crush of Riley, and Deep Dark Secret as a gigantic figure who prefers to remain mysterious as he represents the deepest darkest secret that Riley does not want anyone to know. June Squibb is amazing in her brief role as a tenth avatar known as Nostalgia who pops in every now and then who arrives too early to be used. Kensington Tallman is excellent as Riley Andersen as the young girl who has become a teenager where she deals with many different emotions as well as a lot of uncertainty that plays into the many mistakes and confusion that teenagers often endure. Paul Walter Hauser and Adele Exarchopoulos are brilliant in their respective roles as the emotional avatars Embarrassment and Ennui with the former not saying much as he’s often shy and flustered over his actions where he unexpectedly bonds with Sadness while the latter is hilarious in how bored she is while having a rubbery look where Exarchopoulos allows Ennui to have some of the funniest lines in the film.
Ayo Edebiri is amazing as Envy as this tiny, cyan-colored avatar that is trying to do whatever she can to make Riley be impressive while is in awe of many things where Edebiri brings a lot of nuances to her voice. Tony Hale and Liza Lapira are incredible in their respective roles as Fear and Disgust with the former being more concerned with Riley’s state of mind while also being prepared for the worst while the latter brings a lot of humor in her own crush towards Slashblade while also dealing with Riley’s growing pains where she also must step up her game in trying to help Riley. Phyllis Smith and Lewis Black are great in their respective roles as Sadness and Anger with the former becoming concerned with what Anxiety is doing where she knows that Riley is going into emotional chaos while she befriends Embarrassment. Black’s voice role as Anger has a lot of humor in the way he overreacts and gets mad at while he also becomes aware of how overwhelmed Joy has become where he helps lead the charge to help Riley.
Maya Hawke is phenomenal in her voice role as Anxiety as this orange-like avatar that is this representation of anxiety that is trying to protect Riley by visualizing the worst possible case scenarios while also doing what she can to make Riley look cool in front of new people. Finally, there’s Amy Poehler in a spectacular voice performance of Joy as the leader of Riley’s emotional gang who is trying to maintain Riley’s emotional/mental state while hoping to discard bad memories as a way to protect her only to find herself in a power struggle with Anxiety as Poehler brings more emotional weight to her character who starts to become overwhelmed while also to coming to terms with the complexity of Riley’s emotional and mental well-being.
Inside Out 2 is a sensational film from Kelsey Mann and Pixar. Featuring a great ensemble voice cast, wondrous visuals, and its exploration of growing pains in the mind of a young teenage girl. The film is a coming-of-age film that does not just explore a girl’s mental state but also the many trials and tribulations that a bunch of emotions must endure to help this young girl’s state of mind as she is growing up and dealing with changes that can be horrifying but also welcoming. In the end, Inside Out 2 is a phenomenal film from Kelsey Mann.
Pixar Films: Toy Story - A Bug's Life - Toy Story 2 - (Monsters Inc.) – (Finding Nemo) – The Incredibles - Cars - Ratatouille - WALL-E - Up (2009 film) - Toy Story 3 - Cars 2 - Brave (2012 film) - Monsters University - Inside Out - The Good Dinosaur - (Finding Dory) – (Cars 3) – Coco - The Incredibles 2 - (Onward) – Soul (2020 film) - (Luca (2021 film)) – Turning Red - (Lightyear) - (Elemental (2023 film)) – (Elio (2024 film)) – (Toy Story 5)
© thevoid99 2024
Based on the graphic novel Blue Angel by Julie Maroh, La Vie d’Adele Chaptires 1 & 2 (Blue is the Warmest Colour) is the story of a teenage high school student who meets a blue-haired art student as they would engage into a lesbian love affair. Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche and screenplay by Ghalia Lacroix from a screen story by Kechiche, the film is an exploration into a young woman’s life as she falls for another girl where they engage into a very intense relationship. Starring Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux. La Vie d’Adele Chaptires 1 & 2 is an engrossing yet exhilarating film from Abdellatif Kechiche.
The film is essentially a love story set in two chapters in the life of a young woman named Adele (Adele Exarchopoulos) whose encounter with a blue-haired art student named Emma (Lea Seydoux) would force this young woman to engage into a lesbian love affair that has its ups and downs. Notably as the first half of the story is about Adele trying to figure out her sexual identity as a junior in high school where she eventually meets Emma at a gay bar where the two fall in love. Its second half takes place years later where Adele is a teacher and Emma is an artist who are both trying to maintain their relationship though there are things that happen. It’s a film that doesn’t have much plot yet screenwriter Ghalia Lacroix does take her time to flesh out the characters as it is largely told from Adele’s perspective.
Notably as Adele is this young woman who is just someone that is just trying to understand the idea of sex as she has friends who notices that another student in Thomas (Jeremie Laheurte) is interested in her. The two would have sex but Adele isn’t impressed as her first encounter with Emma lingers in her mind where Adele even ponders if she’s a lesbian when another girl kisses her. Through a gay classmate of hers, Adele would venture into that world she would meet Emma and the two hit it off as they have this relationship that is intense though Adele isn’t sure if she should tell her parents while her friends are questioning her. By the film’s second half where the two women are living together, things get complicated when Emma’s art life starts to flourish as Adele feels left out and questions about herself. Even where she does things that causes problems as it all plays to not just Adele’s growth as a woman but also the fact that Emma is unaware of how fast things for her are moving.
The direction of Abdellatif Kechiche is quite entrancing for not just the simplicity of the presentation but also for its intimacy where he uses a lot of close-ups and medium shots to play into this growing romance between two women. Notably as Kechiche goes for a loose style with hand-held cameras to play into this growing development as it was shot in Lille and other towns in France to get an idea of a woman growing up from a suburban environment to a city as an adult. There’s also a lot of things that Kechiche does to play into this intimacy where he uses blue as a color pastiche in things like jeans, earrings, and fingernails to play into that idea of youth that Adele and Emma are part of until the second half where the color isn’t as prevalent.
The film also features some sex scenes that are graphic but only in its intensity to play into how much Adele and Emma love each other. The sex scenes do contain images that does push boundaries on what can be shown though nothing to graphic is unveiled. Yet, they’re the moments in film that play into the love story as it also goes into the third act when Adele and Emma are starting to have problems that includes some heartbreaking scenes that play into that. Kechiche would have the camera be presented in a medium or wide shot to showcase that disintegration including the last sequence in the film. Overall, Kechiche creates a very powerful and rapturous film about two women falling in love.
Cinematographer Sofian El Fani does excellent work with the cinematography where it‘s mostly straightforward in many of the exterior shots to present a natural feel with bits of blue often shown in its first half while going for more stylish lights and such in some of the film‘s nighttime scenes. Editors Sophie Brunet, Ghalia Lacroix, Albertine Lastera, Jean-Marie Lengelle, and Camille Toubkis do terrific work with the editing as it‘s largely stylized with its jump-cuts to play into the romance between Adele and Emma where things do slow down and get less stylized in its second half.
Set decorators Coline Debee and Julia Lemaire do nice work with the set dressing in some of the places such as the homes that Adele and Emma lived in during their love affair. Sound editor Fabien Pouchet does superb work with some of the sound to present a mostly natural approach while using it to enhance some of the music that is played on location. Music supervisor Elise Luguren creates a wonderful soundtrack that features a wide array of music from indie, reggae, dance, electronic music, French pop, and Latin music to play into the worlds Adele and Emma encounter as a lot of it is played on location.
The casting by Sophie Blanvillain and Bahijja El Amrani is fantastic as it features some notable small roles from Aurelien Recoing and Catherine Salee as Adele’s parents, Anne Loiret and Benoit Pilot in their respective roles as Emma’s mother and stepfather, Sandor Funtek as Adele’s gay friend Valentin, Mona Walravens as Emma’s old girlfriend Lise, Salim Kechiouche as an aspiring actor Adele meets at her party with Emma, Jeremie Laheurte as Adele’s high school lover Thomas, and Stephane Mercoyrol as the art dealer Joachim who would raise interest into Emma’s artwork.
Finally, there’s the performances of Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux as they give outstanding performances in their respective roles as Adele and Emma. Seydoux adds this energy to someone who is experienced and ambitious but also caring when it comes to guiding Adele until the film’s second half where she is wrapped up in her own world as she has this intensity that is fierce to watch. Exarchopoulos is the film’s real breakthrough in the way she explores her growth from a sexually-confused teenage girl to an emotionally-confused young woman as she deals with growing pains and such as she allows the audience to follow everything she does as well as the bad decisions she makes. Exarchopoulos and Seydoux are really the highlights of the film in the way they present a love story that is innocent and intense as well as chaotic at times as they give performances that are just unforgettable to watch.
La Vie d’Adele Chaptires 1 & 2 is a tremendous yet evocative film from Abdellatif Kechiche that features remarkable performances from Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux. The film is definitely one of the most engaging yet realistic portraits of a love affair that grew out of curiosity and then gets intense when reality occurs. Most notably as it is also a coming-of-age film of sorts as well as a love story that is ravishing as well as heartbreaking. In the end, La Vie d’Adele Chaptires 1 & 2 is a spectacularly rich film from Abdellatif Kechiche.
Abdellatif Kechiche Films: (La Faute a Voltaire) - (Games of Love and Chance) - (The Secret of the Grain) - (Black Venus)
© thevoid99 2013
