Backstage by Emmanuelle Bercot (France, 2005, 115 min.). Emmanuelle Bercot’s feature directorial debut shows us the dark, disturbing side of celebrity worship, with a sharp sense for what goes through the mind of a teenager enthralled by fame. Lucie, brilliantly portrayed by rising French star Isild Le Besco, is an ordinary teenager, fixated on an inaccessible pop idol: the enigmatic, platinum blonde Lauren (Emmanuelle Seigner). One day, Lauren visits Lucie’s house as part of a surprise planned for a television show, and Lucie becomes obsessed with following Lauren to Paris. Bercot stirs this premise into a troubling look at stardom and the world that travels in its wake: publicists, managers, producers, guards and in Lucie’s case, fanatical groupies. Backstage is a knockout: intelligent, unnerving, and highly accomplished. Description adapted from Piers Handling, Toronto International Film Festival.