Who You Think I Am: Film Review
You know going into a Juliette Binoche film that she won’t give anything less than 100%, and while this is a pretty high expectation, she never disappoints. Who You Think I Am is the latest movie to prove this point.
In this French drama, Binoche stars as Claire, a 50-year-old literature professor who is still hurting from her husband of 20 years leaving her for a much younger woman. After her young lover Ludo (Guillaume Goiux) starts giving her the cold shoulder, Claire sets up a fake profile on Facebook and becomes Clara, a beautiful 24-year-old. She intends to use the account to spy on Ludo but ends up connecting with his good friend Alex (Francois Civil) and they eventually fall madly in love with each other, although she has to constantly make excuses to stop them from meeting up face-to-face in the real world.
The main action is told in flashback and framed by scenes set in the present day featuring Claire retelling the story to her therapist Dr. Catherine Bormans (Nicole Garcia). The concept of Who You Think I Am, co-written and directed by Safy Nebbou, intrigued me from the beginning but the way the script slowly reveals new information made it even more gripping. I also never expected it to get so dark or have as many wild, unexpected twists.
Catfish the movie and TV show are primarily told from the victim’s perspective so when they met the Catfish – the person behind the fake profile – you care more for the person who was duped than the person doing the duping. This movie flips that perspective around. We can hear Alex over the phone and see his messages but we don’t meet him for a long time. This is Claire’s story. Normally you should dislike her for deceiving him but you understand why she’s doing it – she feels old, discarded and lonely and this online relationship makes her feel young, attractive and desired again. Binoche’s emotional performance helps sell this too.
Who You Think I Am is a surprising, engrossing and at times erotic watch that went to places I didn’t expect.
Available to watch exclusively on Curzon Home Cinema from Friday 10th April