Barbara

Barbara (2017) is a French music drama you can watch online on iFILM. An actress named Brigitte is rehearsing the role of Barbara, the great French chanteuse — working on the voice, the gestures, the scores — until the line between herself and the woman she plays starts to dissolve.

Mathieu Amalric directs and also appears as the filmmaker shooting the picture within the picture, with Jeanne Balibar in the lead. As the production rolls on, two films bleed together: archive footage of the real Barbara folds into the takes, a song cuts off mid-phrase, and you stop knowing whether the actress is steering the role or the role is steering her. It is a study of obsession — with another face, another voice.

The result is intimate and fragmentary, closer to a sketchbook than a tidy biopic. It will reward anyone who already loves Barbara, or simply likes films about how a transformation is built, while frustrating viewers after a straightforward life story. Stream Barbara (2017) online on iFILM.