A film by Nicolas Bedos starring Pierre Niney and Isabelle Adjani released in 2022, “Mascarade” is originally an unfinished novel by the director. But for what reason?
After Mr. and Mrs. Adelman, The Belle Epoque And OSS 117: Red alert in black AfricaNicolas Bedos signs his fourth film as director, Masquerade, November 1, 2022. It brings together Pierre NineyMarine Vacht, Isabelle Adjani and François Cluzet in the cast, in this satirical and cruel scam film.
But did you know that this comedy of manners was originally supposed to be a novel? Nicolas Bedos had indeed tried to write a book that returned, in a very free and romanticized way, to a period of his life, when he was “drowning in idleness and other people’s money”, at the age of 23. Moreover, he also says that the character of Margot, played by Marine Vacht, was inspired by a Czech escort he met in a hotel, where he was a pianist. “I say this without coquetry: I am a failed novelist. Because I get lost in digressions, I get stuck for weeks on stylistic retouching and I lose the main plot”, he admits in comments reported by Allociné.
Ultimately, this novel will never see the light of day, but that doesn’t mean the story will end there. Doria Tillier, his ex-partner, advised him to make a film rather than a book, which would better suit the filmmaker’s talents, according to his own words: “I have relative confidence in writing screenplays. I write quickly and I think I have more or less mastered the different narrative threads. Which is no longer the case when I tackle prose.”
Synopsis – When a young gigolo (Pierre Niney) falls under the spell of a sublime con artist (Marine Vacth), it is the beginning of a Machiavellian plan under the burning sun of the Côte d’Azur. Are the two lovers ready to do anything to offer themselves a dream life, even if it means sacrificing that of a former movie star (Isabelle Adjani) and a real estate agent (François Cluzet)? Passions, crimes, betrayals…
“Virtuoso film” or “detestable comedy”? The critics’ opinion
With an average rating of 2.7/5 on Allociné, the press is decidedly divided on this new proposal from Guy Bedos’ son to imitate the superficiality of the ultra-rich of the Côte d’Azur. Among the conquered critics, we can cite The Figarofor whom Nicolas Bedos signs “a virtuoso film”, while the daily 20 minutes salutes “excellent actors”. For CNewsthis “cruel and joyously iconoclastic, amoral and visually stunning” comedy of manners is filmed “with rhythm, elegance and efficiency.” For Marianne, Masquerade is “a film for the spectators, a film in which the obvious pleasure that [le réalisateur] […] is transmitted to those who follow this story of swindling, passionate love, petty meanness and great destruction”, when The Obs admits that it is an “ambitious and too long film” (2h14).
But not all critics are won over by Masqueradequite the contrary. Faced with the worshipers, we find the ultra-disappointed. In half-tones, the specialized magazine First deplores the fact that “by refusing to choose which film he wants to make, Nicolas Bedos misses his cynical charge against the super-rich”. The Parisian points out the film’s “vulgarity”, calling it a “detestable comedy”. Telerama (“pathetic film where bling-bling is king”) and Release (“the film is like what it pretends to mock: capricious, fascinated by its fake splendor, megalomaniac”) do not think any less. Decidedly, either you love it or you hate it!