Cloclo Belgium, France 2012 – 149min.

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Cloclo

Valérie Lobsiger
Movie Rating: Valérie Lobsiger

The tumultuous life and tragic destiny of French singer Claude François, a.k.a. Cloclo (1939-1978).

Born in Egypt to a French administrator of the Suez Canal and an Italian mother, Claude François suffered his authoritarian father early on. Expelled from the country when the canal was nationalized in 1956, his family lived in poverty in Monaco and Nice. Claude found work as a percussionist (on tumbas) in an orchestra to the great displeasure of his father, who threw him out of the house. His great dream was to become a singer and nothing stopped him from making it come true, not even failures. His career took off with the help of impresario Paul Lederman, who taught him the importance of a sustainable profession (by being consistently innovative) and of cultivating his image towards women of having an “available heart”. He sustained a series of hits, tours, and women, all in the same spirit of dissatisfaction...

One gets the impression that Claude François (excellently played by Jérémie Rénier, who learned to dance and sing in only five months) constantly searched for an enamored reflection of himself in the eyes of other. Director Florent Emilio Siri blames everything on dear old dad, who didn't show Claude enough love. Nevertheless, the singer's flaws, doubts, contradictions and vices are surprising. The film offers an astonishingly lively portrait of a supercharged and almost endearing man.

18.02.2024

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