In the 80's, musical films were again in fashion. From Alan Parker's "Fame", to "Footloose" and "Flashdance", many a film were promoted through their soundtracks , full of global smash hits. The difference between these ones and "Paroles et musique" is that they have an undeniable quality, excellent characters, and a well-developed plot. The latter, on the other hand, is a pure disappointment.
The plot revolves around a music agent, Margaux (Catherine Deneuve), who is searching for new talents to recruit. Not only is she pressed in her job, but her American husband is off again to one of his business trips, leaving her alone with her two spoilt kids (her daughter being played by debutante Charlotte Gainsbourg, who was to gain fame a year later through Claude Miller's excellent film "L'effrontée"). As if a miracle, she finds two poor musicians (Richard Anconina and Christophe Lambert), who play exactly the kind of awful synth music her bosses are searching for. So stars the story that will later evolve into a romance between Margaux and Lambert, and the quest for success, which the two musicians undertake.
While the plot was promising for someone who loves French 80's music, and cinema, it was deficient in both the first one and the other. Veteran composer Michel Legrand was asked to write the music, and he did an awful job. Comprised of boring synthesizer-driven pieces, it can't stand up to the actual hits of the era - and, believe me, the French music scene had a lot to offer back then- with the choice to let Lambert and Anconina sing being an unfortunate one.
As for the latter feature - by this I mean the cinema-, both the direction and the acting were average. The director, Élie Chouraqui did little to improve the already weak plot, making the film a series of long shots that just drag on and on, with the characters just talking about their ambitions of fame .
Speaking of the characters, they were utterly unconvincing, since the actors' performances were of low quality. This does injustice to them, Anconina, Lambert and Deneuve being otherwise excellent actors (see for that "Police", "Subway" and "Le dernier métro" respectively). In this movie, they can't do much themselves, since the plot doesn't let them do anything special. I can safely say that Charlotte Gainsbourg gave the best performance, showing the emotional intensity that would make her name in "L'effrontée".
Essentially, this film feels like a promotion campaign for the new faces of the period's cinema (Anconina and Lambert). Maybe they either should have been replaced, or been given a better story, in which the framework they could act better.
All in all, I can understand why this movie surpassed one million admissions in 1984, belonging to a genre that was popular back then. But now, "Paroles et musique" seems incredibly dated, and has deservedly been forgotten. The French cinema of the 80's has truly better movies to offer.
