Review of A Perfect Stranger – Zickma

Twitter : #UnParfaitInconnu #ACompleteUnknown

Title VO: Completed Unknown

Director: James Mangold

Actors: Timothée Chalamet, Edward Norton, Elle Fanning

Duration: 2h20

Release date: January 29, 2025

James Mangold was expected around the corner after the semi-failure of the last Indiana Jones and it is by offering a biopic far from being anticipated by fans that he returns to directing.

In reality, Bob Dylan is a musical legend, but it mainly concerns the adult generation rather than the youth, and a biopic about an artist of this nature might have ultimately generated limited interest!

Fortunately, James Mangold is tactical and managed to persuade the darling of young people to play the main role, which clearly turned the situation in his favor. This makes it possible to reach a wide audience and, well beyond that, to raise awareness Bob Dylan to the younger generation! A remarkable move!

This young darling hired to attract crowds is called Timothée Chalamet and, if his popularity is incredible among young people, it will clearly explode among adults who will discover the full power of his talent with this film! Without the perfect acting of the young actor, this “ Complete stranger » would obviously not have the same aura, nor the same qualitative intensity!

Already among the favorites at the various award ceremonies, only his youth could cost him the big awards such as the Oscars, but a nomination here and there just seems unlikely to salute his incredible performance.

In this movie, Chalamet is well accompanied by a Edward Norton convincing and above all a Elle Fanning touching and fair.

As for the film’s script, it is quite captivating and presents us with a major turning point in the career of Dylan (passage from acoustic folk to electric folk), but, even if this subject is relevant, we cannot say that it was a necessary biopic, especially since the film is too long for this that he tells. In reality, this story could have been told in 1 hour 30 minutes or even in a documentary broadcast on a streaming platform. We feel that this part of the history of Bob Dylawas told essentially to make money off the back of the artist (initially, it was a book) and that, ultimately, there is not much to tell about him. It was readable and now it’s worth watching, but is it really interesting… It’s debatable.

Regarding the realization, James Mangold is a talented director, but he offers here something very simple, wise and straightforward. For this biopic, there are no surprises or innovations, everything is classic to please the general public. This means that this film seems almost dull compared to the originality and risk-taking of this year’s other highly praised biopic, Better Man !

Obviously, that doesn’t make it a weak film and there are some enjoyable aspects here, but the whole thing lacks originality or interest unless you’re a fan of Bob Dylan and/or Timothée Chalamet !

A complete stranger will join the biopics that are nice to watch once or twice, but not sure that we will come back to them often…