Britney Spears
We know: any ranking can be discussed! But here is the one from the editorial staff of Le Moustique, with 3 essentials
3) Don’t Die, the man who wanted to be eternal (Netflix documentary): the rage for life
Portrait of millionaire Bryan Johnson, who wants to push the limits of aging.
Not far from fifty, the wealthy Bryan Johnson refuses to age and has made it an obsession, spending his days achieving this goal. But there is something fascinating about his approach.
“I read a paper about a man who paid two million dollars a year to turn 18 again”, explains the director of this film, Chris Smith (Wham!). He chose to follow it over a year, in order to better understand an approach which has already not failed to provoke a reaction on social networks.
We discover the man who likes to be the center of all attention on a day-to-day basis as he ingests a hundred pills and meets doctors and other specialists. His routine impresses as much as it challenges. His motivations? We guess them based on the testimonies of aficionados and opponents alike.
The idea of death is evacuated in an instant. “I’m not afraid of it”, sweeps Johnson. The subject deserves to be explored further. We also seek answers in the experiences of those who sometimes turn into guinea pigs. And we understand that religion (he was raised in a Mormon family) held him back for a long time. Finally, interesting elements appear in the analysis of the dynamics of his close relationship with one of his sons.
Despite its stated desire for objectivity, the whole too often gives the impression of skimming over the themes discussed – G.P.
Don’t Die, the man who wanted to be eternal ★★✩✩
2) Severance (Apple TV series): My double and me
The psychological thriller Severance finally comes back! The producers have promised, he will answer all the questions that remain unanswered.
Nearly three years after its launch, Severance marks its big return to the Apple platform with its original five-star cast (Patricia Arquette, Christopher Walken, John Turturro, etc.). A writers’ strike in particular delayed the continuation of the series designed by Dan Erickson and it is rumored that behind-the-scenes dissensions, relayed by the American press, may have slowed down the project…
Nominated fourteen times for the 2022 Emmy Awards, the first salvo made a strong impression, questioning our relationship to work. At the heart of the plot, we followed the fate of several employees who had separated their personal lives from their careers.
Before their integration into the Lumen company, everyone had a very special chip implanted, capable of dividing their memories: when they are at work, they completely forget their existence in society. And vice versa. A situation that suits Mark S. (Adam Scott, Parks And Recreation), which thus puts a temporary veil over the death of his wife which he has never managed to overcome.
-At the end of the journey, and without saying more at the risk of spoiling the surprise for lay people, the hero saw his convictions turned upside down, like those of the public. Ben Stiller then wanted to be reassuring. “We understand that people have questions. We feel responsible […] to make season 2 a satisfying experience.” We thus understand better why these ten new releases are eagerly awaited.- G.P.
Severance Saison 2 ★★★✩
1) Without filter (Arte TV documentary): Britney’s revenge
Without filtera new documentary in five episodes that asks and answers the right questions about the star system.
“We all have something of Britney in us”. From the opening of the first of five episodes of this new documentary offered by Arte.TV, director Jeanne Burnel sets the scene. No, this is not yet another portrait of the singer who has just celebrated her 43rd birthday.
Through its format (5 x 15 minutes), its point of view and the diversity of testimonies, Britney without filter serves as the ultimate decryption of the carnivorous, yet little-questioned, excesses of the pop industry through one of his most iconic figures.
As the cultural channel’s argument rightly points out, Britney Spears appears here as a guinea pig of human celebrity. The documentary respects the chronology by following the trajectory of the singer, from her debut at the age of eleven in the Mickey Mouse Club (she is in the same promotion as Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake and Ryan Gosling) until the moment when she frees herself from her father’s abusive guardianship.
The story is in the first person. Jeanne Burnel gives the floor to experts, journalists, psychologists but also to a woman who admits to having never appreciated the singer and to one of the bloggers at the base of the “Free Britney” movement which turned the celebrity media on its head ( and therefore public opinion) in the camp of the pop princess even though they had not hesitated to stone her before.
Victim of a glory overexposed by a system that produced it (we think a lot about what happened to Kurt Cobain, to Stromae or to Avicii, the latter being, moreover, the subject of a new and excellent documentary on Netflix, I Am Tim), Britney took her revenge. This is one of the conclusions of this series.
She now does what she wants, notably in her completely offbeat Instagram stories where she appears “without filter” (hence the title of the documentary) with her forty-three years, her kilos, without make-up and without retouching. She has her image and seems happy.
Several extracts from his autobiography The woman in mepublished in October 2023, punctuate the episodes which also highlight, something rare for Britney, the texts of her songs. After all, she was the first, and long before the MeToo hashtag appeared, to warn of the dangers caused by toxic relationships with her hit Toxic in 2003. Two years earlier, she sang “You always looked at me like a little girl. I know I’m young but I also have feelings”. The song was titled I’m A Slave For You (“I am a slave to you”). Everything was already said.- LL
Without filter ★★★★
