Cannes. Actresses.

"Italo-French actress Valeria Bruni Tedeschi plays an Italo-French actress in her second film Actrices (Actresses)," grins Boyd van Hoeij at european-films.net. "Much like her first directorial effort, Il est plus facile pour un chameau (It Is Easier for a Camel...), Actrices is at least partially autobiographical, though this time around the dramatic comedy set in the rich, bourgeois and vaguely intellectual Parisian bubble of Bruni Tedeschi's alter ego veers more towards comedy as the film progresses, earning good-hearted laughs as well as, well, whatever one may feel towards this particular milieu."

Variety's Jay Weissberg finds this Un Certain Regard entry "a wispy affair, overly indulgent on the helmer's peculiar brand of wearying neurosis but saved by unexpected bursts of humor."

"Modest insights and amusing incidents make for a minor but pleasing work," writes Allan Hunter for Screen Daily. "The backstage pressures and intrigue of the theatre have served as a memorable backdrop to many films, most notably All About Eve (1950) and Opening Night (1977). Actresses has neither the champagne wit of the Joseph Mankiewicz classic nor the sheer histrionic intensity of the Cassavetes opus. Instead, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi seems intent on a more low-key, naturalistic portrait of an actress at a crossroads."

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Cannes @ 60. Index.

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Posted by dwhudson at May 21, 2007 11:00 AM