[Feuilleton] Cult, look back at the Loft Story phenomenon

Twenty-three years already, we remember it as if it were yesterday. 2001 was not only the year when the twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed, but also the year when reality TV took its first steps in France. Entered production after The Adventurers of Koh-Lantabut broadcast four months earlier, from April 26, Loft Story was an object of curiosity for millions of viewers. The most enthusiastic felt a real fascination for the eleven captives of “Big Brother”, while a significant part of the French, the most alert, were legitimately worried to see television wallowing in voyeurism and vulgarity.

Only twelve years old at that time, the author of these lines – just as telephilic as his college friends – keeps the emotional and traumatic memory of poor Loana dragged through the mud and humiliated at will by a cynical and irresponsible media . So much so that the announcement by Amazon Prime of a mini-series which would go behind the scenes of Loft Story and finally do justice to the most famous victim of French reality TV, had reason to rejoice.

A new generation of producers

Created and scripted by Matthieu Rumani and Nicolas Slomka, Worship covers in six 52-minute episodes the hasty production – only four months of preparation (!) – of the show, against the backdrop of the ratings war between TF1 and M6, with manipulations, lies and betrayals.

A small group of young producers with long teeth (and snowy nostrils…), in search of innovative concepts likely to please new generations and “create a buzz”, is embarking on a project that is still poorly defined but whose models are to be found across the Atlantic. A project with an anthropological dimension flattering both the narcissism of its participants and the unhealthy curiosity of the viewer. Where the writers of the soap opera are clever is that, instead of focusing on the loft and its eleven candidates – because only Loana, among them, really interests them – their story puts the focus on the producers and makes us judges of their actions. The observers, in short, are in turn observed; the production premises almost serving as a “loft”.

Much less innocent, however, than the participants of their show, our “thinking heads” continually live in the balance of power, use each other, manipulate Loana and Jean-Édouard to make money, take advantage of the scandal of the swimming pool then finally decide to help the young woman in distress if it can serve their interests… We know that Alexia Laroche-Joubert – renamed here Isabelle de Rochechouart – partly produced the soap opera and is today accused by the former candidates for watering down his character; but it remains no less stinking and detestable.

Zero empathy

And that’s what bothers us, deep down, with Worship. As instructive as it is about the underside of this reality TV and the relationships between the media, the story struggles to arouse our empathy for this band of lawless Parisian careerists. Even the character of Karim, anxious to do well and stand out from his colleagues, meets a most sordid end.

The only ray of light in this manure pit, Loana captures all the compassion of the viewer. And this, thanks to the talent of Marie Colomb who interprets her role with accuracy, modesty and tenderness. Both mature and conscientious, this young actress, whom we discovered with The beasts et The Royal Wayis to be followed closely.

3 stars out of 5