2019 Directed by Justine Triet
Sibyl, a jaded psychotherapist, returns to her first passion: writing. But her newest patient Margot, a troubled up-and-coming actress, proves to be a source of inspiration that is far too tempting. Fascinated almost to the point of obsession, Sibyl becomes more and more involved in Margot’s tumultuous life, reviving volatile memories that bring her face to face with her past.
Virginie Efira Adèle Exarchopoulos Gaspard Ulliel Niels Schneider Sandra Hüller Laure Calamy Paul Hamy Arthur Harari Lorenzo Lefèbvre Liv Harari Adrien Bellemare Jeane Arra-Bellanger Aurélien Bellanger Philip Vormwald Henriette Desjonquères Agnès Tassel Judith Zins Duccio Bellugi-Vannuccini Natascha Wiese Etienne Beurier
寂寞诊疗室, Sibilas kārdinājums
crying to Vivaldi in a movie theater female gaze french actress named Adèle cinematic universe
I love the "blonde French bitch cries in a theatre to Vivaldi's Summer concerto" genre
Cannes 2019
Film #35
“I’ve gone off the rails.”
The movie centers on Sybil (Virginie Efira), a therapist who wants to take a break from her practice to write a novel. After receiving a phone call from desperate Margot Vasilis (Adèle Exarchopoulos), Sibyl decides to get involved; she goes much further than any therapist every should.
Since Margot is an actress and her boyfriend Igor (Gaspar Ulliel) is an actor, Sibyl is able to cheat a little bit and catch up on them through YouTube videos. Her level of involvement increases when she is invited to the set of the film Never Talk to Strangers. Director Mika Sanders (Sandra Hüller) has varying levels of patience as the production spins out…
Self and fiction. Equal parts farcical and raw (and often funnier the more desperate it gets). Triet balance of all the overstuffed parts here is great as is Efira performance. Much like Victoria played with the expectations of French romantic comedy, Sibyl uses the basis French Bergmanian drama as wink for a series of collapsing fictions.
A stellar Virginie Efira stars as a psychotherapist who gets absurdly involved in the personal affairs of an emotionally tormented actress in Justine Triet’s sophisticated but convoluted comedy-drama Sibyl. Essentially, a woman’s story, Triet tries too hard to make sense of this woman’s life by over complicating her relationships. There are subplots that don’t string together and and that help push her story forward. But overall, there’s so much assurance in the story that you are just swept away by the chaos that Triet brings. Nonetheless, Sibyl’s greatest asset is Efira who is just captivating in every single scene. Sensual, alert, reckless, confused, passionate are all just some of the great adjectives that can describe the marvel of Efira’s expressions.…
Everything seems perfect in the life of Sibyl, a psychotherapist who plans to take some time off to be able to fully dedicate herself to writing a novel, until Margot appears. The encounter with this young and fragile actress involved in a tumultuous relationship, will trigger in Sibyl a confrontation with her past. Justine Triet's latest film is a character study in which she takes us into the complexity of the female psyche of a woman who, upon facing a reflection of herself, falls into a maelstrom where past and present, reality and fiction all begin to blur. The film also addresses topics concerning the dynamics within relationships, memory, motherhood, and artistic endeavours as an instrument to understand us. Is…
A son who resembles his father, a memory that keeps coming back - psychology is construction, representation is remembrance. The comedy isn’t exactly gone but rather left at its borders, giving way to a strong leading drama (even if its resolutions lack some of the punch of its development). Triet manages to keep the film perfectly cohesive formally and dramaturgically, consolidating her name as one of the most competent crafters working today. This is a big shift of mood from ‘Victoria’, it is a bit tense and disquieting tonally, also way, way more personal, but the technical quality that made the former so consistent is also present here and even developed at spots (superb sound mixing, sharp montage, spectacular photography, needless to say, the acting is also great).
Oh, French nonsense. How I've missed it.
Every character here is defined by their need to give horrible advice and their outlandishly-poor decision making skills. For quite a while in the beginning, I felt like I was watching something out of order -- random snippets of scenes tossed into an editing timeline and sent off to Cannes. While the pacing remained a problem throughout, I did come to understand that this weaving in and out of scenes and perspectives was intentionally disorienting. It's in this chaos that we learn just how untrustworthy the titular character is. The choice to lean into humor was an excellent one, as it allowed me to laugh with the film rather than at it. As tensions escalate, things just gets funnier and funnier. A fun mess to sift through.
When I first read the description for this when it was announced to play Cannes I though, “Wow this sounds extremely my shit”. I’m happy to report that it was indeed extremely my shit. Hilarious and something most writers will find relatable to an extent.
Noticing not everyone is reading this the way I did; a friend I ran into afterwards gave me a beaming "That was fun!," whereas I was left rather shaken. And it is fun — to a point. For most of the runtime, this played as a bourgeois French comedy — a razor-sharp bourgeois French comedy, mind you. (The dazzling opening has the film hit the ground running, with a minor character speeding through a dense rant to our protagonist, all while they sit in one of those restaurants with conveyor belts — so much information at once that I parsed maybe 30% of what he was saying.) Just as it seems to be wrapping up in a not exactly tidy package,…
