Benjamin Lavernhe plays Abbé Pierre in a biopic dedicated to the founder of Emmaüs, in cinemas this Wednesday, November 8. But should you go see it? The critics’ opinion.
Abbot stonea life of fighting was released in cinemas this Wednesday, November 8, 2023. Benjamin Lavernhe plays the title role in this new biopic on the founder of Emmaüs. In this film, director Frédéric Tellier (Save or perish, Goliath) seeks to show how the legend of this beloved personality was built, from his birth to his death, sometimes a resistance fighter, sometimes a deputy, before becoming famous as a priest.
In the casting therefore, the member of the Comédie-Française Benjamin Lavernhe (The Meaning of the Party, My Unknown) therefore rises under the guise of Abbé Pierre. He gives the answer to the actress-director Emmanuelle Bercot (My King, During his lifetime) and Michel Wuillermoz (Bernadette, UFO(s)).
But does Abbé Pierre, a life of struggle worth it ? French critics who were able to discover it before its release are radically divided.
Les Echos welcomes “an ambitious fiction” which retraces the entire life of Abbé Pierre, “skilfully scripted”. For franceinfo, it is also a “flamboyant tribute” to this “extraordinary” figure.
For Première, Frédéric Tellier signs “a real angry film, which clashes with its frame of biopic calibrated”. The magazine specializing in the seventh art does not fail, moreover, to link its remarks to the news of 2023, in particular poverty but also the growing anger against institutions and the police.
A “school” biopic
But some critics fundamentally deplore the release of yet another “very academic” biopic for Le Figaro, who judge the film “neither good nor bad, full of good will, with a flat-out realism”. For its part, Le Monde deplores “the life of a saint unfolding without surprise”, deploring the “hagiography” and the “religiosity” demonstrated by the work. For Télérama, who appreciated the first part, this portrait is “superficial” despite Benjamin Lavernhe being “convincing as an abbot”.