This is a film about severe depression, and the reluctance to let go of life's natural advantages of just being young. Binoche is excellent in the role of a fiftyish woman who is both emotionally and sexually unable, literally, to cope with life as it is. Not willing to give away spoilers she pretends to be the ' ideal ' twentyish woman and thanks to social media she pretends to be someone else, and attracts the attention of a man still in his twenties. She becomes addicted to the fictitious person she is and manages ( she thinks ) the unreal situation that is now taking over her entire life. She has two sons and one is near to maturity himself, but still she inwardly persists she is in control. The film opens with her talking about her issues with a doctor played superbly by Nicole Garcia. A relationship, close to a quiet combat develops between them, and this core element is for me the best part of the film dependent as it is on the two actors fine chemistry. Now for the criticisms; Binoche in her character is not poor and I wondered how much care would be taken over her if she was. I am tired of seeing psychiatry for the well off in films. Also the sex scenes were there to excite, and this offended me because fantasy in sexuality is not exciting but self-deluding. The plot of the film also twists and turns in several melodramatic ways, again, in my opinion, undermining the serious subject matter. The last moments of the film are extremely good and sobering. An uneven cinematic experience but watch it alone for Garcia and Binoche.
Plot summary
Claire, a 50-year-old divorced teacher, creates a fake Facebook profile of a 24-year-old woman. She finds a photo of a pretty young brunette online and uses it. She has created an entirely fictional character, but why? Originally she did it to spy on Ludo, her on-and-off lover. But Ludo only accepts friend requests from people he knows personally. To get to Jo, Claire sends his best-friend Alex a friend request and he accepts. The pair begins to exchange messages and their fake friendship turns into a fake love affair. Claire is in love with Alex and he is in love with her fake profile. Now he wants to meet the 24-year-old beauty he's been chatting with. She invents a busy job, professional trips and even a jealous ex. The more and more in love they are the more the situation becomes unbearable. Claire is torn between the impossibility of this love and the pain of having to admit her deception and risk losing it.
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Severe Depression and Excellent Help
A French Festival Highlight
A modern day tale that is very typical of French cinema. Juliette Binoche is a very engaging actress both in her talents and natural beauty. The narrative has enough plot twists and intrigue to keep one interested, but not in a "Hollywood" manner that some may expect.
I simply find any review that describes a film simply as "boring" is just a cop-out and it was not the genre or film for them.
Dangerous Liaisons On the Internet
In "Who You Think I Am" ("Celle que vous croyez"),Claire Millaud is a writer and lecturer who teaches the eighteenth-century novel "Les Liaisons Dangereuses," a tale of cutthroat rivalry among French aristocrats. In many ways, the film updates the novel to the age of the internet in which Claire is the protagonist and the driver of the action.
Claire appears to be playing a dangerous game when she leads on a young photographer, duping him into believing that she is much younger woman. She has given him the photo of her niece, and he is smitten.
But Claire too becomes obsessed by the young man, and she falls deeper and deeper into a combination of anxiety and depression over the relationship that she admits has become "the center of my universe."
The relationship between Claire and her therapist is extremely credible. The psychiatrist is very professional and refuses to reveal to her patient any of her own feelings. But in the major turning point of the film, she decides to perform an intervention based on the troubled story of young Alex, the man that Claire believes has taken his life over her.
There was something eerie and unpleasant about the entire "virtual" experience of Claire and Alex. Juliette Binoche as Claire, as well as the screenwriters, were successful in demonstrating that the dangerous game played by Claire may not be far-fetched based on the inherent power and addiction of today's social media.