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VENICE 2005 Out of competition

Backstage: the other side of the mirror

by 

Stars, be on your guard because the fans are prowling in the corridors and at the least disappointment their devotion could transform into a fit of possession, an appetite for destruction. A phenomenon illustrated last night, out of competition, on the Lido with Backstage [+see also:
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, the second feature from French woman Emmanuelle Bercot, about a dependent relationship between an admirer and her idol (Isild Le Besco and Emmanuelle Seigner) which held up a broken mirror to a public obsessed with glamour at the Venice Mostra.

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A simple young girl from deep in the French countryside, Lucie is surprised to find herself, in her own home and in front of the TV cameras, face to face with the famous singer Lauren whom she worships. In a state of shock, the fan refuses to communicate with the woman who occupies all her thoughts, the walls of her room and the speakers of her stereo. In despair, she follows her star to Paris and manages to get into her hotel suite, then into her daily life. A perverse relationship grows, the idol falling from her pedestal and her admirer snooping around and getting involved with the singer’s personal life and love life. Blending professional actors (among them the director Noémie Lvosky) and characters playing themselves, in particular the excellent manager Valéry Zeitoun, Emmanuelle Bercot manages to create a venomous atmosphere haunted by the demands of success : body guards, recordings to be made at any price, psychological pressure, legal medicinal drugs, capriciousness and abuse of power... Having passed to the other side of the mirror, the gullible Lucie, bit by bit, involves herself deeper in a bitter-sweet form of corruption, becoming in turn a dangerous manipulator.

French-German co-production, Backstage was initiated by the French production company Haut et Court (80 %) in association with Berlin’s CMW Company (20 %). With a budget of 3,5 million euros, the film received 360 000 euros from Eurimages, Advance on Receipts of 350 000 euros from the National Film Centre National (CNC), 400 000 euros from Arte France Cinéma, 360 000 from the region Ile-de-France and 215 000 euros thanks to the French-German co-production mini-treaty. Sold internationally by Wild Bunch, it will be distributed in France by Haut et Court.

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(Translated from French)

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