French director Agathe Riedinger, in her stunning feature-length debut, brings to life a unique heroine in Liane, a young woman obsessed with the glittery world of social media and reality TV fame.
Riedinger smartly maps a relationship between the desire to be famous, class aspirations and the worship of money.
Wild Diamond 2024
Diamant brut
To most people of a certain age or generation, wanting to be on a reality TV show is an odd aspiration. But to 19-year-old Liane, it is everything. Literally. She lives large, despite her small means, and dreams big. She knows exactly what she will be when she grows up – a star. And she wants everyone else to know it, too.
But how will she make this dream come to life? Living in difficult circumstances with her mother and younger sister, she rejects the idea of a “normal” job, instead opting to shoplift and sell products on the street so she can afford the copious amounts of beauty products she believes she needs. Glamour comes at quite a price. She also works hard on her social media presence, actively seeking objectification – and when she is selected to audition for reality TV show Miracle Island it seems everything she’s gone through – the boob job, the painful blisters from her high heels, her time in the foster system, her cruel, careless mother – has been worth it. But now she must wait to find out if her audition has been successful, which in itself is quite possibly the worst pain she has ever endured.
Liane’s desperation, not just for fame, but to escape her circumstances and her trauma, is palpable and devastating. The irony of a girl so obsessed with reality TV being so disconnected from actual reality hammers home just how much of a false god the dream of instant stardom is. At once hardened by the reality of her home life, and softened by her vulnerability, naïveté and obsession with beauty, Liane is a compelling, relatable and intriguing character that you can’t help but root for. In Liane, actress Malou Khebizi and director Agathe Riedinger have created a truly unique heroine – making such a seemingly vain and selfish character so sympathetic is quite a feat.
Evocatively and beautifully shot, showing a side of France we don’t often see, it was surprising to learn that this is Riediger's feature-length directorial debut, and Khebizi's very first role in a feature-length film. It will be exciting to see what these brilliant, talented women do next. — Louise Adams