Feet of clay notwithstanding, [Emmanuelle] Seigner's larger-than-life idol never completely loses her magical quality... and ultimately Backstage's considerable pleasure comes from the breathless feeling of making a map of sacred ground.

| Oct 17, 2018

Backstage doesn't really tell us much about the world of rock musicians, or the mental workings of their scariest fans.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Mar 8, 2007

A weakly conceived drama with a central performance that serves as the final nail in the coffin.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 10, 2007

Backstage reveals a tender, creepy transaction between idol and idolator.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 2, 2007

From that very first scene, which plays like a berserk fantasy erupting into the movie's 'reality,' I found Backstage almost impossible to believe.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 1, 2007

Spine-tingling suspense comes from a young girl ... undeterred by a star's confession that she really can't offer any of the validation that her fans so desperately crave.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Feb 1, 2007

My problem is with Isild Le Besco: She tends to be a bit of a blank and doesn't project any sort of personality. Her blandness may seem appropriate for the roles in which she is cast, but when she is on screen, the movie comes to a dead halt.

| Original Score: C | Jan 11, 2007

A complex psychological thriller that serves as a modern-day, darker variation on All About Eve.

Full Review | Dec 28, 2006

An enjoyably overwrought meditation on the consequences of celebrity and the vicissitudes of fandom.

| Dec 14, 2006

Backstage's main problem is [director] Bercot's insistence on pumping an essentially comic story full of existential dread.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Dec 2, 2006

While le Besco and Seigner are always interesting, the familiar material isn't worth the detour.

| Dec 1, 2006

There's a pleasing tension in the air as their relationship comes to seem like something of a contest: With two women this needy, who will out-crazy the other?

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 24, 2006

When Lauren (Emmanuelle Seigner) unwisely allows her biggest fan, Lucie (Isild Le Besco ), into her life, we know that little good can come of it.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 23, 2006

The real fun of the piece, however, is Seigner, who plays the downhill diva to the hilt, throwing cell phones and tantrums that would put Naomi Campbell to shame.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Nov 22, 2006

Director Emmanuelle Bercot's film offers a fascinating account of how a vulnerable star might mistake fan worship for something real.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 22, 2006

A creepy look at the borderline personalities on both sides of the line between celebrity and citizen.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 22, 2006

Depicting the thorny relationship shared by pop star and fan, Backstage radiates not the nostalgic sentimentality of Almost Famous but raw, pathetic, obsessive desperation.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Nov 21, 2006

Almost unnervingly feral in the same vein as actresses Samantha Morton or Sylvie Testud, [Isild] Le Besco's hysterically-pitched outbursts overpower everyone else onscreen, even Emmanuelle Seigner's boozy, uninhibited Lauren.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Nov 17, 2006

Undeniably rousing... Seigner shows astonishing range... Even more tremendous is Le Besco, whose blank, teary-eyed gazes and guarded battles against her own immaturity feel painfully frank.

| Jul 13, 2006

As megastar Lauren, Seigner (who also sings) is a plausibly charismatic mix of ego and neurosis, while de Besco is outstanding as teenager Lucie.

| Feb 9, 2006