'All About Corinne' review: Isabelle Huppert plays Sandrine Kiberlin's stalker in witty, delicious French industrial satire
As one of the few French actresses to have achieved a niche in her native land – commonly referred to as La Huppert alongside the likes of La Binoche and La Deneuve – Isabelle Huppert is instantly and amusingly difficult to see in the role of a completely unknown actress whose name is unimpressive.
Casting La Huppert as an extra—albeit a very extra—player in Sandrine Kiberlin's capture is the first of many good jokes in Mark Fitosi's Inside Baseball.
As one of the few French actresses to have achieved a niche in her native land—usually referred to as La Huppert alongside the likes of Labinoche and La Deneuve—seeing Isabelle Huppert in a completely unknown role is painfully amusing, no matter how busy she is. Desperately, he reaches out to higher-ups on the stage. Hooper's cast as an industry nobody is the lead in Mark Fitosi's film-biz-winning comedy All About Corinne , but it turns out there's a lot of mileage in it, especially with co-star Sandrine Kiberlin — who not only plays an industry person, but Sandrine Kiberle as her fierce actress. RELATED STORIES 'Euphoria' creator Sam Levinson lands overall TV deal at Amazon's MGM Studios Bernie Orenstein, co-writer of 'That Girl' and 'The New Dick Van Dyke Show,' dies at 95
Exciting, unassuming performances by the stars, who both elevate themselves in contrasting ways, add weight and emotion to a frothy exercise — as from Fitosi, a specialist in various French femme fatales, including Huppert's obscure vehicle "Copacabana" and Laure Calamy's recent "Two Tickets to Greece." With its laid-back star-studded charms and in-house baseball humor, "All About Corinne" has little trouble securing worldwide art distribution after a festival run that began as a Locarno closing night pick and continued to a gala in Toronto. Audiences with "Call your agent!" And its witty brand of industrial satire feels right at home. Popular in Variety
"You might want to ask yourself why you're still in the same place at your age," a colleague says with occasional cruelty to Corinne Macklowe (Huppert), an actor who's been working steadily and invisibly for decades in the least glamorous of jobs—and, in her sixties, still hasn't given up hope of stardom. At least in fringe theater, he's had the oddly inspired moment in the spotlight. In the film, he's joined by countless other, younger extras who battle for the rare gift of a line.
Not for lack of ability – Huppert may dim his lights a bit, but he's not stretching himself enough to play a bad actor – he's simply never had a break, and while Corinne's attempts to ingratiate herself with A-listers make for raucous comedy, there's also a gentle pathos about her star-studded desperation. He knows, and we know, that he is a Huppert-level talent. Why can't anyone else see it?
Corinne's standard line for trying to work with bigger-name actresses is to gleefully point out their physical resemblance to each other, noting that they could play sisters — an approach that doesn't alienate the petite redhead with the tall, beachy Kiberlin when they share a scene (or at least are in the same frame). But Corinne's insistence coincides with a sudden phase of insecurity for the leading lady, who tries to create a simpler image after her agent kindly tells her that "even Cotillard is less detached from reality." And so he begrudgingly takes Corinne's resume, as well as a suggested recording of an obscure Chilean play that Corinne believes is his finest hour.
Not until months later, though, when Corinne sees the news that Kiberlein is performing in a play of the same play, and violently confronts him outside the theater. Out of anger and shameful guilt, an entirely conditional friendship develops, as each actor uses the other for very different purposes: in Kiberlin, Corinne sees her long-term relationship culminate. Through Corinne, Kiberlein believes he can keep it real. Fitussi's writing is hazy and a little dumb throughout, but it's the stars freely playing with their respective screen personas that make it really funny. In a more straightforward retelling of the story, their roles might be reversed: the comedy inherent in Huppert, who plays a spiraling, faintly tragic role, is equally present in Kiberlein, who is best known for his neurotic comic work, which reveals the fragility of his true self.
Other good sports who turn up awkwardly are Emmanuelle Bercow, defiantly directing a big-budget period drama that could turn things around for Corinne, and Diane Kruger — hilariously vying with Kiberlin for maximum misplay in the Dardenne brothers' new Liège. If this makes you laugh, as this reviewer certainly did, then consider yourself squarely in the movie's audience. You can cut without cutting too deep: The sweeter-than-striking "All About Corinne" loves its stars enough to actually draw blood. We love them too, so that's cool.