Dalida opens French film jamboree

Superstar French singer Dalida played by lookalike Italian model turned actress Sveva Alviti Photo: Luc Roux

French cinema seems obsessed with making films about legendary singers from Edith Piaf (La Vie En Rose) and Serge Gainsbourg to Claude François (My Way or Clo-Clo as it was known in France).

Director Lisa Azuelos presents Dalida for the opening of the 19th Rendez-vous with French Cinema watched by Unifrance’s Isabelle Giordano Photo: Richard Mowe

The latest recipient for the treatment is Dalida, an Italian-French singer who had a traumatic childhood in Egypt before she turned entertainer, selling more than 170 million records before her suicide in 1987. Her life veered between adulation and depression, complicated romantic entanglements, and her inability to have children after an abortion.

The film has just opened on French screens and was shown last night (January 12) to buyers attending the 19th Unifrance Rendez-vous with French Cinema, which showcases new titles on offer for countries around the world. Alongside the screenings and the market is a media junket more than a 100 journalists over four days.

Dalida, incarnated by lookalike Italian model turned actress Sveva Alviti, is directed by Lisa Azuelos who has a reputation for featuring strong female characters in such films as LOL: Laughing Out Loud.

There is much ground to cover in the singer’s turbulent trajectory involving her brother and manager Orlando Gigliotti (Riccardo Scamarcio); her producer Eddie Barclay (Vincent Perez), husband Lucien Morisse (Jean-Paul Rouve) and a string of lovers such as Jean Sobieski (Niels Schneider), Luigi Tesco (Alessandro Borghi) and Richard Chanfray (Nicolas Duvauchelle).

Unifrance opening reception under the cupola of the Grand Hotel in Paris Photo: Richard Mowe

The Gaumont cinema where the screening unfurled fittingly is just along the boulevard from the legendary concert hall, the Olympia where Dalida made her debut in 1956 in a variety show - and then was taken up by among others the venue’s owner Brunto Coquatrix (played in the film by Patrick Timsit).

Azuelos matches the songs to the particular emotions going on in the singer’s life at the time, allowing them full reign, as the narrative switches between Paris, Cairo, Rome, San Remo and New York.

The film has opened relatively strongly on 560 screens throughout France although has scored less well in its first few days than the Claude François biopic which came out in 2012.

This year’s event is marked by a strong contingent of women directors, among them Mia Hansen-Love and Anne Fontaine.

One of the highlights will be a special French Cinema award from the Minister of Culture Audrey Azoulay to Isabelle Huppert after her Golden Globe win for Paul Verhoeven’s Elle. All attendees have been given a special badge with a heart shape saying: “I Love Isabelle Huppert.”

Hopes pinned on Huppert Photo: Richard Mowe