“Joli Joli” with Clara Luciani is the perfect musical comedy to comfort yourself at the cinema at the end of the year

CINEMA – There are films that surprise us, others that make us think. And then there are those who simply give us a good time, letting us leave the room with a smile on our faces. Pretty Pretty is of the latter category. The musical comedy directed by Diastème is released in theaters this Wednesday, December 25, an ideal “Christmas movie” date as it has the effect of hot chocolate under the blanket while watching the snow fall.

The director, real name Patrick Asté, offers Clara Luciani her first main role on the big screen. Under her blonde wig, she plays a rising cinema star in the 70s, who meets a broke writer, played brilliantly by William Lebghil. This beginning of a love story quickly finds itself hampered by obstacles and misunderstandings caused by a panel of secondary characters who are as comical as they are endearing.

Laura Felpin plays the writer's housekeeper, with whom she is madly in love, and then becomes the actress's assistant. She is the one who leads the dance, almost becoming the star of the film. José Garcia reveals his singing talents as the agent of the character played by Clara Luciani.

On the set of the film supposed to relaunch the latter's career, we find Vincent Dedienne as a movie star and Grégoire Ludig as a director at the end of his rope. This five-star cast is completed by Victor Belmondo and Thomas VDB, who has the funniest bit in the film. All these beautiful people will meet from Paris to Rome, in music, with songs by Alex Beaupain.

Christophe Honoré's favorite singer-songwriter and composer wrote fourteen tracks for the soundtrack of Pretty Pretty. By turns touching, amusing and grandiose, they are enhanced by the choreographies of Marion Motin.

A modern operetta

The musical was born from the friendship between the composer and the director. Diastème pitched the idea to Alex Beaupain ten years ago to do together “a film where everyone loves each other and no one dies”. The creative duo chose to respect the rules of the Art of the operetta, the ancestor of the musical, as explained in the production notes. Pretty Pretty therefore takes place in four acts with “a thwarted love story, with an obstacle, a misunderstanding or a turnaround at the end of the act, and a happy ending”.

This unsurprising structure contributes to the “feel good” effect of the film. Like a Christmas TV movie, you expect everything to have a happy ending. After a year of gloomy news, Pretty Pretty is good for morale, without pretension. So we let ourselves be carried away by romance, we take part in the game of misunderstandings with joy, before ending up with a smile on our lips when love triumphs.

With the story set in 1977, before cell phones and the internet, the problems the characters face would be made impossible today, and that's refreshing. Conversely, Diastème does not fall into the cult of nostalgia and humorously recalls the progress made since then on sexism and homosexuality.

A pretty nice movie

Even though the fake snow looks fake and the 70s decor is even more kitsch, Pretty Pretty lives up to its name: everything is beautiful, colorful, enveloped in a soft light. The snow-covered streets of Paris on New Year's Eve convey the magic of the holiday season, and the Cinecittà film studios in Rome add color and warmth.

Most of the dialogues take place in songs, four or five per act. Those who don't like musicals will therefore have a hard time appreciating Diastema's film. But for others, Pretty Pretty is in line with American classics (like Let's sing in the rain) and films by Jacques Demy (as pop as The Young Ladies of Rochefortless melancholy than The Umbrellas of Cherbourg).

The love story between two artists set against the backdrop of a cinema scene is reminiscent of another well-known musical comedy, La La Land. With one big difference: you won't come out of the room crying.

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