The film Barbie by Greta Gerwig with Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling is an optimistic, sparkling and luminous comedy, as well as a bet on human intelligence.
Barbie (Margot Robbie) lives, as it should, in Barbieland. That is to say a kind of fuchsia pink feminine Eden where the existence of all the dolls of the same name is an uninterrupted succession of days at the beach, evenings with friends and other fantastic moments under an always radiant sun and a plastic blue sea. Ken (Ryan Gosling), stooge par excellence, exists there only by and for Barbie.
This dream of perfection is brutally interrupted when Barbie begins to think about death. This reflection cracks Barbieland and the existence of our heroine stops spinning. On the advice of Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon), she leaves for the real world where, wanting to meet the CEO of Mattel (Will Ferrell), she crosses paths with Gloria (America Ferrera), his secretary, and Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt), the daughter of the latter.
Phil Lewis/WENN
The opening scene, a brilliant parody of 2001, Space Odyssey, narrated with irresistible humor by Helen Mirren, sets the tone for the 114-minute feature film by offering a summary of the elements that form the basis of this long-awaited production. The finesse of the caustic humor, embellished with a brutally refreshing frankness and an imaginative and invigorating madness, makes you want to applaud spontaneously on several occasions (the speech of America Ferrera is, in particular, to be marked with a stone white).
Informed moviegoers will delight in unearthing moments of evocative magic from The Grand Budapest Hotel by Wes Anderson, All That Jazz of Bob Fosse, funny existential anxieties of Woody Allen in manhattan – a nod to the comparison often made between co-screenwriter Noah Baumbach and the filmmaker –, the whole thing cheerfully breaking the fourth wall in a contagious good mood.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY WARNER BROS. PICTURES
The colorful whirlwind directed and co-scripted by Greta Gerwig does not miss the central message. Barbie is multiple and complex – she is president (Issa Rae) in an all-pink White House, mermaid (Dua Lipa), physicist (Emma Mackey, whose presence is a nod to admirers of the actress and Margot Robbie, who constantly confuses them), lawyer (Sharon Rooney), Supreme Court judge (Ana Cruz Kayne) – just like Ken, also played by Simu Liu, John Cena or Scott Evans, and his evolution bears witness to that of the Company. Barbiemainstream film par excellence, does not forget the emotion in the examination of the relationship between Gloria and Sasha or during the meeting between Barbie and Ruth Handler (Rhea Perlman), and does not ignore the wealth interactions between men and women, illustrated by the famous couple of dolls.
Yes, Barbie is a celebration of all the myriad of possible femininities (and masculinities) and an unequivocal affirmation of the pride of being a woman.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Barbie will delight all moviegoers in the province starting July 21.