Jour : 25 février 2015

Extrait de sa fiche Wikipédia (FR)  :

Birdman ou (la surprenante vertu de l’ignorance) (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)) est une comédie dramatique américaine écrite, produite et réalisée par Alejandro González Iñárritu, sorti en 2014.

Le film traite de l’adaptation théâtrale de la nouvelle Parlez-moi d’amour (What We Talk About When We Talk About Love) écrite par Raymond Carver en 1981. Le film a fait l’ouverture du festival international du film de Venise en 2014, où il fut aussi présenté en compétition officielle¹. Le film atteint la consécration en 2015 en étant récompensé à quatre reprises lors de la 87e cérémonie des Oscars, en obtenant notamment l’Oscar du meilleur film ainsi que l’Oscar du meilleur réalisateur pour Alejandro González Iñárritu.

L’acteur déchu Riggan Thomson, jadis connu pour avoir incarné un célèbre super-héros, revient à Broadway dans l’espoir de retrouver sa gloire en montant une pièce de théâtre.

wikipedia Page (EN) :

Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) is a washed-up Hollywood actor famous for playing the superhero Birdman in blockbuster movies decades earlier. Riggan is tormented by the voice of Birdman, who mercilessly criticizes him, and he sees himself performing feats of levitation and telekinesis. Riggan hopes to reinvent his career by writing, directing, and starring in a Broadway adaptation of Raymond Carver‘s short story « What We Talk About When We Talk About Love« . The play is produced by Riggan’s best friend and lawyer Jake (Zach Galifianakis), and also stars Riggan’s girlfriend Laura (Andrea Riseborough) and first-time Broadway actress Lesley (Naomi Watts). Riggan’s daughter Sam (Emma Stone), a recovering addict, serves as his assistant.

During rehearsals, a light fixture falls onto Ralph, an actor Riggan and Jake agree is terrible; Riggan tells Jake he caused the light to fall so he could replace Ralph. Through a connection with Lesley, Riggan replaces Ralph with the brilliant but volatile method actor Mike (Edward Norton), refinancing his house to fund his contract. The first previews go disastrously: Mike breaks character over the replacement of his gin with water, and attempts to rape Lesley during a sex scene. Riggan reads early press coverage and is incensed that Mike has stolen the attention, but Jake encourages him to continue. When Riggan catches Sam using marijuana, she tells him he does not matter and his play is a vanity project.

Backstage during the final preview, Riggan sees Sam and Mike flirting. He accidentally locks himself out of the theater and has to walk in his underwear through Times Square to get back inside; his popularity explodes online. Afterwards, he runs into influential critic Tabitha Dickinson (Lindsay Duncan), who tells him she hates Hollywood celebrities who « pretend » to be actors, and promises to « kill » his play with a negative review. Riggan gets drunk and passes out in the street. The next day, he hallucinates a conversation with Birdman, who tries to convince him to make another Birdman film, and sees himself flying through New York City back to the theater.

On opening night, Riggan uses a real gun for the final scene in which his character kills himself, and shoots his nose off onstage. He earns a standing ovation from all but Tabitha, who leaves during the applause. In the hospital, Jake tells Riggan that Tabitha gave the play a rave review, dubbing his suicide attempt as the creation of a new form of method acting she calls « Super-Realism ». After Sam visits Riggan, he dismisses Birdman and sees birds climbing onto the window ledge. When Sam returns, Riggan is gone. She looks down at the street, then up at the sky and smiles.

(FR) Mon avis sur le film :

Ce n’est pas un film sur les super héros, non le réalisateur avait clairement dit  qu’il n’aimait pas les films de super héros, alors non ce n’en est définitivement pas non … L’approche reste néanmoins intéressante, car elle raconte l’histoire d’un acteur déchu limite « has been » car il n’est connu que par ses films de super héros ( comme si ce n’était qu’une tare, parce que bien sur tout le monde fait du Godard ou du Truffaut au cinéma n’est ce pas ? 🙂 ) et on voit sa tentative de monter une pièce de théâtre d’un auteur qu’il appréciait dans sa jeunesse à Broadway. On voit le classique schéma de l’acteur qui a tout consacré à sa carrière et à sa gloire mais a négligé sa vie de famille , divorcé, avec une fille qui a fait une cure de désintox, bref, pas vraiment glorieux. Mais il garde avec lui l’esprit de Birdman qui semble l’obséder et lui incite à faire vivre son ancienne gloire… un vrai dilemme car tout le monde le déclare paumé, perdu , un loser en somme…

Bref pas toujours le plus gai des films, intéressants, mais de la à décrocher l’oscar du meilleur film? pour moi non. Je trouve néanmoins le choix de Mickael Keaton intéressant du à son passé d’acteur ayant incarné une icône du monde des comics et super héros qu’est Batman ( les films faits par Tim Burton), en cela il colle un peu à l’image du personnage? Par contre le coté critique sur le film de super héros, le coté très cynique  me gave un peu . Un film qui mérite d’être vu mais le meilleur film du moment ? pas vraiment pour moi .

(EN) My review of the movie :

This is not a super hero movie, the director clearly said in previous interviews that he didn’t like super heroes movies , so don’t expect « Birdman » to be one  ! The story is about an actor who was well known for his past as an actor playing a famous super hero on movies, but is only known for that. He decided to  direct and play on Broadway, but as you can expect it , lotof people see him as a « loser » a B rated actor, just good enough to play super hero movies ( as if it was that much lame and you know for sure every famous actor do Truffaut or Godard’s kind of Movies isn’t it ?). The other aspect approached is of course the drama life of this actor, because as he spent most of his life working for his career and neglecting his personal life, divorcing his wife he still loves , , having his daughter who went through rehab, well a true « loser » somehow…

I can’t say it’s the funniest movie to see at the moment, it is interesting to see it for the point of view of what an actor life can be, and even more by the selection of Mickael Keaton, because of his past as playing the famous super hero Batman ( in the Tim Burton movies) he kind of fits the actor you see on this movie. But this aspect of seeing the super hero movies as « lame » bores me and having this cynical attitude isn’t what makes it the best movie of the moment for me.

Final note : 6/10