Queer actor and filmmaker Nicolas Maury was discovered internationally thanks to his role as an extroverted assistant in Call My Agent, the infamous series based in Paris about actors’ frantic agents. My Best Part is his directorial debut and he also plays the main lead, an openly gay, oversensitive, troubled actor reaching his 40s, and very much himself.
Without revealing the plot, we can say that filming My Best Part must have been an excellent therapy for Maury but not so much for the audience… The camera over-focuses on him and leaves out the other actors including a subtle icon like 4 time César Award winner Nathalie Baye, who plays his mother. Xavier Dolan made much better use of her unique talent in two of his movies.
The film is far too long even if some of the dialogues are quite interesting. Cameos by Jean-Marc Barr and Maury’s excellent Call my Agent co-star César Award-winner Laure Calamy give a bit of spice to the plot. Maury’s love interests are gorgeous but unrealistic – one has better things to do than dealing with his chronic jealousy and the second one happens to be straight…
The finale is a bit of a cliché as not everyone is as gifted as the Master of French musicals, Jacques Demy
(Available on Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play, and Vimeo from Altered Innocence)
Richard Gilles is slightly past his prime, but still vivacious true Parisian spirit. He has worked as a journalist in the spheres of the arts and luxury for the last few decades and is now the happy correspondent for QueerGuru in the City of Lights.
Labels: 2022, comedy, French, Nicolas Muary, review, Richard Gilles
