NON-FICTION (Doubles vies)

Director
Olivier Assayas

Starring
Juliette Binoche, Guillaume Canet, Vincent Macaigne, Christa Theret

Set in Paris, Non-Fiction explores the transition to the world of digital writing, editing and publishing and the adulterous relationships that transpire amongst a small group of friends.

Leonard, played convincingly by Vincent Macaigne, is a womanising, bohemian writer of declining relevance who is incapable of writing anything other than thinly veiled ‘autofiction’ about his own failed affairs and marriages.

The film follows Leonard in his bid to get his most recent novel published and, on this journey, a few of Leonard’s muses are revealed.

Whilst the film has its entertaining moments, at times it drips with pretension. It seems overly concerned with traversing hip, modern territory a theme that doesn’t feel relevant to the development of narrative or character. In fact, I could venture to say that I found its handling of contemporary content, heavy handed. Laborious. You could almost feel the film dating in real time. But perhaps Assayas created this dynamic intentionally? This is a film that does try and out-meta itself at every turn.

In many ways I felt this film would have delivered a stronger impact if it had been less concerned with being ‘Zeitgeisty’ and had more focused on the development of some quite interesting central characters.

REVIEW: Doubles vies [Non-Fiction] [2019] | www.jaredmobarak.com
Perhaps it was the weightiness of this modern content that sat heavily with me. I found myself unable to lose myself in the lives of these characters who were both equally hip and unlikeable. There were some funny instances and some witty banter, but there was a sense of something amiss, self-conscious in its earnestness, a little film lost.