Avis de la Presse Française:
Le Billet:
Passé la question sur le rôle de Dean, la matière qu’a choisi Corbijn semblait très intéressante. Premier fait, nous apprenons l’impopularité de Dean avant et pendant la campagne du film East of Eden. Souvent associé comme le fiancé de Pier Angeli (Alessandra Mastronardi), le rebelle de l’Indiana n’est pas encore l’icône qu’il deviendra par la suite. S’attardant sur cette relation amicale entre Stock et Dean, Corbijn parvient avec finesse à se fondre dans cette histoire, plutôt axée sur l’obsession de ce photographe, excellemment joué par Robert Pattinson, que l’impact de James Dean.
Fascinant, contrôlé, Life est un biopic minutieux et calculé. Ces éloges vont vers un excellent duo, Pattinson et DeHaan, ainsi qu’à Corbijn qui s’approprie l’histoire en recréant l’univers des clichés célèbres. Notons que le titre du film n’est pas la traduction anglaise de « vie », mais plutôt un clin d’oeil au très célèbre magazine américain. Belle immersion dans cette relation, tirée d’une histoire vraie, sous le regard d’un réalisateur qui, doit-on le rappeler, était photographe avant d’être cinéaste…
Qu’est ce qu’une star sinon quelqu’un qui ramène du monde, même quand il n’est pas là? Robert Pattinson est l’exemple parfait, comme l’a montré la projection presse de Life d’Anton Corbijn (hors compétition), dont il est la tête d’affiche. Son simple nom a fait venir une foule ahurissante, discutant dans toutes les langues, dans une file d’attente comparable à celles qui devancent les attractions de Disneyland Paris. (...) L’intelligence de Corbijn est de n’avoir pas casté Robert Pattinson pour jouer le Jimmy fumeur et photogénique. Ce dernier est interprété par Dane DeHaan, parfait en jeune homme fat, insupportable de flemme, de narcissisme et de poses. Pattinson, superstar et poster-boy depuis Twilight et qui fait tout pour se détacher de lui-même (chez Cronenberg notamment), est l’anonyme, masqué par la lumière de son flash.(...) Ce que Corbijn filme magnifiquement, c’est moins l’icône que tout ce qui va avec. Comme par exemple, le revers de la fascination que Stock a pour Dean, et qui n’est rien d’autre que la mise en lumière de son propre ratage. Il (Pattinson, fascinant) demande, envieux, à l’acteur : «Comment tu fais pour que ce soit aussi facile?». L’image est évidemment minutieuse, faite de déclinaisons de gris, de bleus pâles. Se mêle la reconstitution réaliste du New York pré-sixties, de l’ambiance des clubs et de l’Actors' Studio, et l’obsession de Corbijn pour cette mystérieuse qualité qu’est la photogénie - Pattinson n’est pas le pire canevas pour l’exercice.
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English reviews:
Robert Pattinson impresses in this stylish drama about the relationship between celebrity and the media. An intense mob formed around the Berlinale press screening of Anton Corbijn's Life — such is the continued allure of Robert Pattinson. His fans beyond the festival will be pleased to hear that his brittle performance as LIFE magazine photographer, Dennis Stock, outshines Dane DeHaan's over-baked rendering of James Dean, although the latter is poignant enough to enliven this tale of men helping each other to take a leap into greatness...Pattinson's performance is as crisp as the white shirt and black suits his character always wears. This is a camouflage for his own problems that slowly unfurl, adding colour and improving the film...The social backdrop is just as carefully wrought. In another film, Ben Kingsley's fuming studio head, Jack Warner, would be The Other Man to Jimmy Dean and the tussle would be Saving Mr Banks flavour. Instead, Kingsley ball-busts just enough to give Jimmy's non-conformity gravitas, but the viewfinder is trained on the man behind the camera. Pattinson steps up, allowing more of his character's insides to come out. As Life proceeds the pace picks up and by the third act, it is a compelling dramatisation of an artistically fascinating alliance.
"Stock (a show-stealing Robert Pattinson) first meets Dean at an LA party hosted by director Nicholas Ray." (...) "As it is, the main things you'll remember are Pattinson's best performance and the finest projectile vomit scene you’ve ever seen."
"Robert Pattinson is perfectly cast as Stock, a man adrift with an ex-wife from a teenage marriage and guilt filled about the young son he never sees.DeHaan doesn’t exactly resemble Dean so much as inhabit his Fifties hipster lingo, attitude and speech patterns. As both men reveal their stories and discover a shared sense of loss, something beautiful happens. LIFE is fairly low-key, yet it breathes with an honesty and an astuteness about a young man struggling to be an “artist” in a business where he’s warned and threatened to mind his manners, do what he’s told and basically not “think.”
Considering we’re living vicariously through Robert Pattinson’s Dennis Stock in Anton Corbijn’s ambitious biographical drama Life, we rely on our protagonist earning the trust of Hollywood icon and star James Dean, to be granted the fortune of getting beneath the surface of his subject, to allow the audience to do so themselves. What transpires is an absorbing insight into the life of one of the industry’s mot renowned, and elusive stars....Given the undeniable charm and charisma of Pattinson, there was always the fear that he would steal the show from his counterpart, and be perceived as the star. However such is his understated, subtle turn, it allows DeHaan to take on that very role, which, given he’s playing James Dean, simply has to be the case.Cine-Vue:
DeHaan and Pattinson are also both terrific, at once elegant and charismatic, yet equally uncomfortable in the skins they inhabit. Dean's ability to mirror the dilemmas of a disenfranchised generation of youngster made him a star and whilst DeHaan's performance is a little over-exaggerated, he still manages to capture that sense of relatable despondency. This also affords Pattinson time out of the spotlight in one of his strongest roles to date.London Evening Standard:
Pattinson as the restlessly ambitious Stock is more edgy (you can’t help wishing he had been cast as Dean instead)
The two leads convince as actors; it’s the characters that are more of a problem. DeHaan method acts his way into the persona of a consummate method actor whose cool persona was partly a protective screen; his Dean is very much in the mould of the Dean remembered by his East Of Eden co-star Lois Smith, who once said: “He was a sweet, rustic person, but there was also this suspicious, taut, guarded young man”. Pattinson’s hangdog character is defined by an exchange in which, after Dean tells him he’s disappointed in him, he replies “you’re not the only one”.The Hollywood Reporter:
While Pattinson has endured a lot of gratuitous bashing post-Twilight, he gives arguably the most fully rounded performance here
review is bleh but I did wonder if anyone was going to muse about if Rob was in the role of Dean instead. It was something many of us thought when Rob was first cast and several media outlets during the casting announcement thought so as well.
Robert Pattinson in a sly turn as Dennis Stock...It’s the peculiarly moving, even subtly queer friendship between the two men that distinguishes “Life” from standard inside-Hollywood fare, while gorgeous production values and ace star turns make it a thoroughly marketable arthouse prospect...DeHaan and Pattinson enact this anti-romance beautifully, each man quizzically eyeing the other for leads and clues, while coyly retreating from scrutiny. Pattinson, adding to his post-“Twilight” gallery of sharp-cut screw-ups, brings intriguing layers of childish dysfunction to a character who is only ostensibly the straight man in the partnership.Gone With The Movies:
For Robert Pattinson, his take on iconic photographer Dennis Stock is equally as impressive as he enters the world of Hollywood from the other side of the carpet (and at bottom). Spotting Dean's talent early, Stock, in the two-hour running time attempts to get photographs of Dean before fame kicks in. Deadlines, pressure and awkwardness soon mount-up, and Pattinson expertly presents it onto screen.
Dane DeHaan and Robert Pattinson shine in Anton Corbijn's low-key portrait of James Dean. (...) The underrated Pattinson is playing a cold fish here, and does a credible job getting inside Dennis’s aura of shifty desperation (...)
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