TAMARA ” the contrast of the round “, with a sub-title as heavy, needless to say, it shuffles off to go see the new feature film d’Alexandre Castagnetti (after The Inlays, Love and Turbulence, on The Grimoire Arkandias…). Adaptation of the COMIC of the same name by Zidrou and Darasse, this comedy aimed at teens comes to tell us how Tamara, 16 years old, will overcome all the traditional problems encountered with its age – physical complexes, conflicting relations with his parents, teasing by the other students, etc. – to experience her first romantic relationship with the hunk of the high school.
Credible ? Nothing is less certain, having regard to the values of the generation depicted in the watermark. But this film has the merit of being comforting for all those who will recognise real-life situations here and there and it’s a safe bet that they will be many. Apart from that, if TAMARA doesn’t avoid the clichés, it will reserve some good surprises where you least expect them.
In effect, we will have the classical repertoire of the teens problems modern version : “digestion” of the blended family that one has not chosen, reputation ruined, or listed by clicking on the social networks, how to pick a guy in ten lessons, how to accept without looking like the other… not to mention a few scenes well-clichés of romantic comedies and american, such as a frantic race against the clock to arrive in time before the chosen of his heart does goes up in a plane. Some have clearly been avoided but others remain ultimately necessary to set the scene and reflect the generation to which TAMARA will address. Impossible to speak of the entrance to the high school without mentioning the importance of the codes physical, of dress, relationship and the difficulties related to the acceptance of his body, still often wrong “sided” of childhood, problems in love, burgeoning sexuality, and the cruelty of teenagers between them.
“TAMARA will appeal to more by the accuracy and variety of its supporting roles, and by their contemporaneity by the romance a little bit of honey which we served.”
We, therefore, find all of that in TAMARA but without falling into vulgarity type American Pie. One side is ” girls “, rather like in LOL, except that our heroine (Heloise Martin, who signed his first major role) is moving away from the physical standards imposed by fashion magazines and the stars of the social networks. However, this Tamara, far from that of the BD, is similar to many young real girls of his age. She is neither obese nor skinny, neither ugly nor beautiful. It just has a few curves, she is fixing, applying make-up and dresses a little sexy on the need by emphasizing their strengths, but above all is distinguished by qualities other than physical. The identification with the audience is more broad, and makes more credible a romance with the most handsome guy of the school (Rayane Bensetti judiciously selected for his success with ado), not in the absolute but within this generation as it has been proposed by Alexandre Castagnetti.
The strength of TAMARA resides mainly in the realism which he shows with regard to what happens in high school, or on social networks (even if one is horrified by their ubiquity and their influence on the life of ado), and in the fact that Tamara did not have to comply with the other to achieve its ends. But also and especially for the way he describes what happens at home, within the family, at Tamara but also at his friends, which expanded the models and, once again, the possibilities of identification. The director had projected the idea of a film about “the first time” but it is on this different plane that it stands out and reveals more of finesse and spirit. For example, across the different mother-daughter relationships, and father-and-daughter so influential in the construction of femininity (even if it is addressed subtly with accents of lightness), which provide some funny scenes and touching. Special Mention to the characters of the neighbor and the best friend, marvelously interpreted by Blanche Gardin and Oulaya Amamra which, also, move us as much as they make us laugh.
TAMARA is so finally a pleasant surprise in which one finds scattered here and there, the musicality and the little grain of imagination of the film director (also writer and performer of The Song Sundays), especially in the scene totally surreal and zany nature of the kiss. If there is a movie are pretty standard and not necessarily marking them in the register of comedy, teenage, nevertheless, it is very representative of the generation from which it echoed. There is however no doubt that it will appeal to more by the accuracy and variety of its supporting roles, and by their contemporaneity by the romance a little bit of honey which we served.
Stephanie Ayache
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