TO THINE OWN `SELF-MADE HERO' BE TRUE.Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Critic A fine, French shaggy dog story Noun 1. shaggy dog story - a long rambling joke whose humor derives from its pointlessness gag, jape, jest, joke, laugh - a humorous anecdote or remark intended to provoke laughter; "he told a very funny joke"; "he knows a million gags"; "thanks for the laugh"; "he , ``A Self-Made Hero'' revels in artifice while it subtly builds up an appreciation of the fundamental human impulse to be oneself. In Jacques Audiard's droll droll adj. droll·er, droll·est Amusingly odd or whimsically comical. n. Archaic A buffoon. [French drôle, buffoon, droll, from Old French drolle film, Mathieu Kassovitz (acting here, but best known for directing the urban tragedy ``La Haine'') plays Albert Dehousse, a kind of mid-century France embodied in one guy. Having spent most of World War II in his collaborationist mother's small-town home, Albert departs for Paris shortly after the liberation. He's neither too stupid nor very smart, and the big city is a tough go for him until a dashing - and gay - resistance commando gives Albert a few clues about the importance of appearing like someone you're not. Circumstances lead Albert into perpetrating a remarkably effective scam. He convinces everyone in town, including the recently arrived free French forces, that he was indeed a Nazi-killing partisan. By memorizing detailed accounts and responding with carefully crafted vagueness when confronted with something he hasn't read about, Albert soon becomes the beloved war buddy of real heroes. Ironically, the breadth of his acceptance makes him the perfect nonpolitical appointee APPOINTEE. A person who is appointed or selected for a particular purpose; as the appointee under a power, is the person who is to receive the benefit of the trust or power. for the most sensitive of postwar jobs: flushing out French collaborators in occupied Germany who claim that they were kidnapped forced laborers. Like Jean-Francois Deniau's source novel, the movie locates in Albert the wider French tendency to downplay dishonorable dis·hon·or·a·ble adj. 1. Characterized by or causing dishonor or discredit. 2. Lacking integrity; unprincipled. dis·hon wartime behavior and exaggerate the actual extent of the resistance. But even though Audiard employs a number of cinematic and narrative tricks to remind us that this whole tale is pretty tall, Kassovitz's subtle, fundamentally sad performance keeps reminding us that very real, specific questions of identity are constantly at stake here. In a brilliant bit of casting, Jean-Louis Trintignant Jean-Louis Trintignant (born on December 11 1930 in Piolenc, Vaucluse) is a French actor. At the age of twenty, Trintignant moved to Paris to study drama, and made his theatrical debut in 1951 going on to be seen as one of the most gifted French actors of the post-war era. plays the elderly Albert of today. ``Someone once said the best lives are invented; I think it was me,'' he tells us as a preface to his remarkable story. The line encapsulates all the playfulness, regret and teasing unreliability ``A Self-Made Hero'' has in store. THE FACTS The film: ``A Self-Made Hero'' (Not rated; nudity, sex, violence). The stars: Matthieu Kassovitz, Anouk Grinberg, Sandrine Kiberlain Sandrine Kiberlain (b. Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France, February 25, 1968) is a French actress. She has often worked with the director Laetitia Masson, and has also worked with Benoît Jacquot. and Jean-Louis Trintignant. Behind the scenes: Directed by Jacques Audiard. Written by Audiard and Alain Le Henry, based on Jean-Francois Deniau's novel. Produced by Patrick Godeau. Released by Strand Releasing. Running time: One hour, 45 minutes. Playing: Laemmle Town Center 5, Encino; Laemmle Music Hall, Beverly Hills Beverly Hills, city (1990 pop. 31,971), Los Angeles co., S Calif., completely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles; inc. 1914. The largely residential city is home to many motion-picture and television personalities. . Our rating: Three and One Half Stars. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: In ``A Self-Made Hero,'' Matthieu Kassovitz plays a Frenchman indulging in revisionist history Revisionist history carries both positive and negative connotations. Each has its own entry.
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