On the occasion of the release of “Karaoké”, here are five things to know about this comedy led by Michèle Laroque and Claudia Tagbo.
What is it about ? After an evening full of excess, Bénédicte, a famous opera singer, sees her career collapse. Fatou, a karaoke enthusiast, is the only one to reach out to him. She has an idea in mind: to convince Bénédicte to participate in the big national karaoke competition. The perfect vocal mastery of one and the tenacity of the other could well ignite sparks and take them very far.
Documentation work
Karaoké was born from Stéphane Ben Lahcene’s dual desire to make a joyful film set in the environment of a competition, and to bring together two worlds that have nothing to do with each other, “namely the popular one from which I come and the more privileged one that I have known since I started working in cinema”. Before filming, the filmmaker carried out extensive documentation work, spending a lot of time in the karaoke rooms:
“And yes, there is a French championship and a world championship but they have been suspended since the Covid pandemic. They are resuming this year. So I wrote and filmed by mixing the available sources and the desires for cinema that I could have. A smaller competition than in reality when we are at the regional level (for more comedy) then bigger when we arrive at the world final (for more emotion).”
“But for the candidates, whether in reality or in my film, there is the same desire to put on a show. I also added elements in my own way. The popcorn duet where the members of a duo must sing a word about two – Bénédicte and Fatou pass this test to ‘Parso on danse’ by Stromae – exists but not in the official competitions. I took the liberty of adding it but I must admit that it was technically one of the most complicated scenes.”
Playback?
Michèle Laroque and Claudia Tagbo actually sing in the film. The first, as a member of the troop of Bastardshas already given voice on stage, while the second participated in the musical Ghost as well as the comedy Yo Mama. The songs were recorded before filming but the actresses actually sang them on set.
2023 – FILMS DU 24 – TF1 FILMS PRODUCTION Claudia Tagbo and Michèle Laroque
A special relationship with Michèle Laroque
Stéphane Ben Lahcene had already directed Michèle Laroque in his previous and first feature film, Premier de la classe. He also co-wrote two of his productions, Everyone at Home and So We Dance: “I imagined her completely capable of embodying this great artist that Bénédicte is. So I had never thought of anyone other than her. And when I pitched the story to her she was immediately up for it”remembers the director.
The actress explains what were the most difficult moments on the set in relation to singing: “The popcorn duet (two singers each taking turns singing every other word or every other syllable in a set of lyrics), it was complicated but we found solutions. For Casta Diva I worked a lot on the video for Maria Callas. It’s an aria that some great opera singers don’t even confront, an almost insurmountable pitfall.
“I delivered it in my own way, as an actress. It was a meeting, with Callas, with Adeline and that is the enormous charm of our profession, the possibility we have of meeting people very different from us, very competent in their field, to take the essence of what they are to transcribe it, to transmit it through a character. These are exceptional adventures that we experience.”
The Star Ac coach
Michèle Laroque was accompanied by a lyrical singing teacher, Caroline Fèvre. She and Claudia Tagbo also worked with Adeline Toniutti, the Star Academy singing teacher who replaced Armande Altaï in October 2022, and who appears on screen in the jury of the world championships in Japan.
The tandem
Stéphane Ben Lahcene had never collaborated with Claudia Tagbo, but thought of her when writing. While he was starting the Karaoke script, he received a message from Michèle Laroque accompanied by a selfie with Claudia, taken during a festival. During this meeting, the first announced to the second that they were going to star in a film in the coming months. It was therefore through Michèle Laroque that Claudia Tagbo learned that Ben Lahcene was writing a role for her.
“They immediately got along very well, especially as they wanted to work together and the connection was made immediately. The planets aligned perfectly. During the readings we did, including those with the entire cast, I saw that that matched perfectly”says the director.