Mes stars et moi (literally My Stars and I) is a 2008 French comedy film directed by Laetitia Colombani.
Robert Pelage (Kad Merad) is an obsessive fan of three actresses: the veteran Solange Duvivier (Catherine Deneuve), the tabloid darling Isabella Séréna (Emmanuelle Béart) and the up-and-coming Violette Duval (Mélanie Bernier). He works night shifts as a janitor in the same building the actresses' agents work in, a fact he takes advantage of. One night, Robert manipulates things so all three end up cast as the stars in an upcoming film. Brought together, Solange, Isabella and Violette start plotting to make him pay for his stalking.
Tropes:
- Actor Allusion:
- Conceptually, Folies de femmes sounds very similar to 8 Women, which starred Deneuve and Béart among others.
- Robert has a poster of Isabella's movie Une femme amoureuse, which is similar to the Béart-starring Une femme française
.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- At the start Robert seems as if he has some high-profile job in show business, possibly as an agent for all three actresses. Then it's revealed that he's really just a janitor at the talent agency and that he's been stalking them.
- In one scene it seems as if Robert is admitting that his obsession with the actresses is indeed a psychological problem he needs to fix. Turns out he's actually talking about his depressed cat.
- Does Not Drive: When Solange steals Robert's car, she admits that was the first time she'd ever driven since she'd always had a chauffeur, and remarks on how liberating it felt.
- Loony Fan: Robert has large posters of the actresses decorating his office, keeps lots of data on them, vandalizes the property of any critic who pans them and even manages to interfere in their lives, such as setting Isabella and her boyfriend to break up because Robert doesn't like the guy, or passing as Violette's agent to decline an offer to star in a TV movie so she'll only star in "proper" cinema. Several events cause him to grow out of this by the end, though.
- Loser Protagonist: Robert works as a janitor when he could set up his own company, all so he can be closer to his favorite stars. His obsession has driven out his wife and daughter. In the end he tries to make amends for his behavior and his life starts to look up, and there's a possibility that his family comes back to him.
- Not Listening to Me, Are You?: Robert's daughter tries to talk to him about her goal to study art, but he's distracted by seeing his stars on television. She then tries saying maybe she'll go into some hardcore porn involving orgies and animals. Robert, still distracted, says "Sure, why not?", and at that she storms out.
- Pun: Robert likes referring to his cat's psychiatrist as a "psychatnalist" (chat being French for cat). The psychiatrist isn't amused.
- Really Gets Around: Isabella has a reputation for sleeping around and her love life tends to be on magazines' covers. Solange initially quarrels with Isabella because she once slept with the cameraman working on one of Solange's movies.
- Show Within a Show: Most of the story takes place as Solange, Isabella and Violette film Folies de femmes.
- The Three Faces of Eve: While attempting to explain why he's so fixated on the three actresses, Robert describes them like this; Solange as the dignified and classy one, Isabella the beautiful, sensual one, and Violette the young, fresh one.
