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  1. Culture
  2. Film
7 December 2012

Pete Doherty is a really, really bad actor

The former Libertine isn't very good at playing a libertine.

By Alex Hern

Witness the trailer for Pete Doherty’s debut film role, in which the ex-Libertine mumbles his way through his lines with the grace of a gawky sixth former desperately reciting some half-learned poetry to an uninterested crush:

Notice too how little the trailer shows of Doherty actually acting. There’s a reason for this, apparently. As the Guardian‘s Catherine Shoard writes:

His performance as a shambling yet sensitive libertine (geddit?) in Sylvie Verheyde’s adaptation of the Alfred de Musset novel is catastrophic. Still, that does mean it’s tonally of a piece with the rest of the film.

Or the Guardian‘s Peter Bradshaw (yes, the film is so bad they gave it two one-star reviews):

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It’s not exactly like seeing a dog walk on its hind legs. It’s more like seeing one of those dogs on the TV show That’s Life! that could say “sausages”. Only instead of saying “sausages”, it’s saying, “You understand, madam, that I am the greatest libertine in all Paris!” while wearing a top hat.

The Telegraph‘s Robbie Collin is kinder. To the film, at least:

How much damage can one man’s performance wreak on an otherwise serviceable film? When the film is this adaptation of Alfred de Musset’s semi-fictionalised memoir, and the man is Pete Doherty, the answer could be measured on the Richter scale.

The Hollywood Reporter‘s Megan Lehmann:

The role of a beautiful and damned 19th century libertine sounds like a perfect fit for disheveled English rock poet Pete Doherty, but then there’s the little matter of being able to act. 

Based on his debut performance in Sylvie Verheyde’s Cannes Un Certain Regard entry, Confessions of a Child of the Century, an intolerably dull adaptation of French romanticist Alfred de Musset’s 1830s novel of debauchery and despair, the Libertines and Babyshambles singer shouldn’t even think of giving up his day job.

Total Film‘s James Mottram:

It must have seemed like a good idea at the time, casting the former Libertines frontman as Octave, the debauched Parisian, but the novelty soon wears off. Suffocated by Sylvie Verheyde’s lifeless direction, Doherty’s so ill at ease you’d think his britches were too tight.

At this point, I started feeling bad for Doherty, so I tried to track down a good write-up. I couldn’t. The film is currently 0 per cent “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes. Maybe steer clear of this one.

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