PRESS REVIEW – Laurent Lafitte seduces in this feature film adapted from the book by Sorj Chalandon, where many critics praise his acting as well as a realistic scenario, which sometimes turns a little too much into drama.
Laurent Lafitte has a very busy schedule. After playing Molière in The imaginary Molière at the start of 2024, the 51-year-old actor took on the roles of Gérard de Villefort in Le Comte de Monte Cristo in June, to Hervé Rioux in The Barbarians in September, Lucien Guitry in Sarah Bernhardt, La Divine in December and now Georges in The Fourth Wall. David Oelhoffen’s feature film, released Wednesday January 15 in theaters, adapted from the book by Sorj Chalandon, takes place in Lebanon in the 1980s.
We follow a French theater director (Laurent Lafitte), who goes to Beirut to fulfill a promise made to an old sick friend, that of producing Antigone in the capital of Lebanon, with a cast mixing actors from different religions. But Georges will have to face the reality of war. A performance and a scenario which were almost unanimously approved by critics. Our colleague Olivier Delcroix, who spoke with Simon Abkarian (who plays Marwan, the driver Georges), underlines an approach “very realistic from the director». « The strength of the film lies in particular in the coincidence of its images with those which reach us from the Middle East, every day, and with the discourse of artists from this corner of the globe. “, underlines Telerama . « Far from the effects of staging, the director intelligently lets an almost documentary atmosphere permeate his film. The movie « describes with finesse the absurdity of this situation (“It’s Lebanon that is shooting at Lebanon”, replies one of the characters to enlighten Georges, who understands nothing of the forces present). He also talks about the role of art in promoting peace and fraternity », add The Parisian .
Pour The Point , David Oelhoffen signs a “ poignant film, shared between images of war and scenes of rehearsals between women and men who believe in this moment of truce where the word and the magic of the theater make us forget the rest. An opinion shared by First . It’s a ” great and beautiful film about utopia, through this permanent clash between sincerely idealistic ideas and tragically cruel reality », they congratulate, also complimenting the acting of the protagonist. “ In this role, Laurent Lafitte finds the right tone in a restrained composition which nevertheless never prevents us from reading everything that comes to mind and heart. ».
A film that does “a little too much”
Talents also praised by 20 Minutes who describes it as “ great actor » but also by The New Obs . « The success of the ensemble owes a lot to the formidable Laurent Lafitte. Despite the limitless commitment of his character, he infuses the film with his relaxed and mischievous presence, his manners as an eternal tourist crackling with modesty and intelligence. »
But not all reviews are so laudatory. In his review titled “ The Fourth Wall with Laurent Lafitte, unfortunately it’s a tragedy », Liberation describes a film that “ abuse of fake effects ». « Completely abandoning the description of the work on the play, which would have been a good outcome, with its well-chosen actors (Manal Issa, Tarek Yaacoub, Pio Chahine, Simon Abkarian), the film goes straight into the realm of dramatic tension with its false hopes betrayed, its effectiveness of manufactured tears. » The idyll is announced to us with a lot of shots on the face of the beauty, while the story, rather well marked out in its first part, gets bogged down in melodrama », joins The World.
« The rendering in the image of this story whose echoes are still relevant today appears too theatrical and demonstrative, damaging a reality that it nevertheless seeks to transcribe», says The Sunday Journal while Humanity considers that the director “ actually a little too much ». « Sound effects to indicate the protagonist’s trouble in moments of extreme tension, Laurent Laffite’s distancing game, the film sometimes becomes too programmatic. He loses in fluidity what he gains in this aesthetic of distancing and gets stuck in an exercise in style. »
