Number One Fan

Muriel is a beautician working in Lyon. For twenty years she has been a fan of the singer Vincent Lacroix: every concert, everything he has released, and she cannot stop talking about him. One night Vincent turns up at her door and asks a favour. The favour is not innocent, and Muriel agrees without a single question. The film is less interested in the crime than in what fandom is. Muriel likes lying, invents stories and tells them, and this time she is stuck inside the one story she did not invent. Because nobody takes her seriously, nobody suspects her either. Jeanne Herry wrote and directed. It is her first feature and she has said she carried the idea for ten years. Sandrine Kiberlain plays Muriel, Laurent Lafitte plays Vincent. Kiberlain won best actress at the 2014 Angouleme francophone film festival, and the film was nominated at the Cesars for best actress and best first feature. Herry is the daughter of Miou-Miou and Julien Clerc, and knowing the crowd around a singer at first hand shapes the tone of the film. Who it is for: anyone who likes French black comedy and unconventional female leads. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a thriller. The crime plot is weak, the second half loses momentum, and the singer stays too thinly drawn.