Let’s obviously talk about the idea of a biopic about a star with a monkey’s head. The thing that catches the eye, and that everyone talks about. Director Michael Gracey had a hard time imposing it on the producers. Robbie Williams immediately accepted the idea; the portrait through the fable. Obviously, any fan of fantastic bestiaries will be intrigued. And any SF fan too, like Planet of the Apesone of the most acclaimed and beloved works of science fiction, where the beasts are more human than human.
The monkey is more than a mask
This is the role assigned to the fable: the unveiling of human nature. “I use animals to teach men,” writes Jean de La Fontaine. Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman) uses it to reveal Robbie Williams. At the beginning, however, we tell ourselves that it’s a gadget, that the monkey is only the beast of a filmmaker selling curiosity, and an entertaining mask on the face of a superstar with global hits. Why the anthropoid, when you want, at 50, to tell the world that you have become a good guy? Does the monkey literally illustrate what it means to lose face, which is what actually happened to the British singer during his high years? “We see more of Robbie Williams through this monkey character than if it had been an actor aping Robbie Williams,” says Michael Gracey.
In Better Manfrom working-class childhood obscurity to adult pop stardom, including his status as the youngest member of the successful boy band Take ThatRobbie Williams, actor in his own life, adorned with a monkey face, searches and finds his way – My Way by Frank Sinatra, crooner, as a guide. The narrative arc is that of rise, fall and redemption: classic. The beautiful story of an unloved child (by his father, his classmates) and who always felt different, “with an open wound of sensitivity, almost a mental illness”. Glory was his way of the cross: a fall into the abyss of depression, alcohol and drugs. The banal evil of fragile stars.
Laying bare
Michael Gracey directs a dark and haunted biopic, charged with the demons of the English star, his hatred of himself, his addictions to drugs and alcohol. Decay and devastation. “Showing these very dark moments adds light to the person. And everyone can relate. We have all done things that we were ashamed of, and that we regret,” says the Australian director. Michael Gracey gave himself as a reference, among others, Let the show begin! (1979), an uncompromising self-portrait by the brilliant screenwriter-director-choreographer Bob Fosse. Better Man is a [même] cruel exposure, the very opposite of vain self-celebration and boring hagiography.
-Better Man do not feel sorry for yourself, do not seek pathos at all costs, in order to better move towards the exit from hell, and arouse compassion. Michael Gracey is not complacent: more than once, Robbie Williams is unlikable, headstrong, self-centered. More than once he is a poor guy. But a guy who falls, who ends up getting back up as best he can, ends up being endearing. Above all, Michael Gracey does not forget the show – side entertainmentthe biopic is astonishing and eye-popping. It’s cleverly constructed: the musical numbers aren’t just entertaining clips from the Williams hit machine: they move the story forward. As if the songs were intimate confessions.
Better Man by Michael Gracey, in theaters this Wednesday, January 22. Duration: 2 hours 15 minutes.
