It is only the beginning of a long story: Jocelyn is fragile, helpless and under pressure. She looks around and bewildered, surrounded by too many people. The Idol, the highly anticipated series premiering at the 76th Cannes, explores feelings, the difficult moments and those of total exhilaration, through the two protagonists, Lily-Rose Depp and The Weekend. The tale is an explosion of emotions that shock the audience: it seems to offer a real-life view of the world of the pop music industry, made up of twists and turns, sudden changes and scandals. The director, Sam Lenvinson, is the same one who made the whole world fall in love with the hugely successful Euphoria, accustoming his loyal followers to a TV series that makes them feel that they themselves are part of the screen. The characters involved, their popularity and their problems, are revealed from episode to episode by critically and meticulously presenting every facet of them; in this way the audience accompanies the characters toward the turning point, the end of the story, as if they were part of their real lives.
And in fact, The Idol also wants to tell the reality, the stark reality of an aspect of the music universe that is probably still unknown, exploring to the fullest the positive sides, and even negative ones, of fame and success. The show begins with pop star Lily-Rose Depp, Jocelyn, posing for a photo shoot, wearing only a tight robe and a hospital bracelet, the latest sign of the girl’s nervous breakdown caused by her mother’s death. In this moment she knows that she is weak, but at the same time she is aware that she can use her fragility as a weapon for personal achievement; it is a ruthless view of a funny, difficult and paradoxical world.
“When you are successful the whole world lies to you.”
After a series of shooting-related misfortunes, Jocelyn goes to a nightclub, where she meets Tedros, the mysterious club owner and singer, played by The Weekend, co-creator of the series. A strong bond is immediately established between the two characters, which at first seems to be positive for the two, who are extremely caught up in passion. Soon the relationship turns toxic, where emotions and the feeling of being one step away from success take over. The young girl who felt helpless in a shark world is getting closer and closer to achieving her goal of becoming a pop star, for which she is reduced to doing a series of borderline things. Audience become engrossed in the story of the two individual and their relationship, finding the absurdity of the events that unfold fascinating. Lily-Rose Depp says she analyzed Jocelyn a lot before trying her hand at filming, finding it interesting and fun to embody a totally new role far removed from her true personality.
Levinson manages to maintain throughout the series a balance between the real and the irrational, between sophistication and vulgarity, once again demonstrating the need to portray real life in an exaggerated and unrestrained way. The protagonist after getting help from Tedros to edit her singles, follows with him an unregulated life of excesses and over-the-top evenings; the audience daydreams, and at the same time finds itself immersed in a not inconsiderable social critique, where the musical environment appears corrupt and unmanageable. The charms of the two stars transcend the screen: in following the story, one is completely affected, coexists with their emotions, and gets the pure feeling of what life might be like once they achieve popularity. The lights, the bodies dancing until dawn, the songs and the settings make the tale fascinating, mysterious and incredibly realistic, but analyzing the lives of the protagonists also deduces the points of tension that affect the weaker ones by transporting them to the depths. The Weekend sketches a character whose past, present and future one immediately comes to understand, witnessing a Hollywood drama where everyone is committed to personal success, without morals or mercy. The Idol is sensual, determined, funny and upsetting: as Tedros tells Jocelyn “you are not a human, now you are a star.”
