But the fact that Stardom fixes a cynical magnifying glass on these show business buffoons isn t what makes the film interesting. Arcand s film, which shows the rise and fall of a teenage supermodel, is shown entirely through clips of television shows, telethons, news reports and talk shows. This gimmicky concept reminded me of Fan Mail, a Ronald Munson novel about a psychopath stalking a female newscaster.
Stardom is the film equivalent of Fan Mail.
Even more interesting than Stardom s unique narrative structure is the fact that it was the closing night film at Cannes and the opening night film at Toronto s festival. Both events pack in celebrities like nobody s business, and the famous seemed to react quite positively to the film, even though it pretty much portrayed the lot of them as gluttonous morons. Newcomer Jessica Par stars as Tina Menzhal, a comely cross between Liv Tyler and Ione Skye, who, as the film opens, is a frizzy-haired woman s hockey player in Cornwall, Ontario. Through a series of freaky coincidences, a photograph of Tina lands in the right pair of hands, and she literally wakes up to a life of fame and celebrity. Tina s new modeling career whisks her off to New York, Paris and Milan, where she rubs elbows with pretentious personalities at trendy restaurants, goofy celebrity events and fundraisers, all of which are recorded by various media sources.