"A star is born" looks like an Oscar Frontrunner

The arc of the film is quite simple: a superstar encounters an unknown ingenuity, they fall in love, and she becomes extremely famous at the moment when she suffers a sharp decline due to alcoholism and traps of fame. With each remake of the original 1937 film (starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March) came a different meta-narrative. Judy Garland's 1954 version was a huge comeback for the child's former star, setting her up as a serious actress, while the 1976 rock-based musical of Barbra Streisand was an exaggerated critical flop. Streisand was already far too famous to be credible as a total unrecognized person, and unlike Garland, she was not coming back from a creative fallow period.

Lady Gaga is somewhere in the middle – while her fame has never faded, her album sales have certainly dropped (although this is partly thanks to the boom in streaming services). Her reputation as an exciting provocateur allowed her to launch it, but in recent years she has explored a more refined singer-songwriter approach, in her collaborations with Tony Bennett and in her latest album. Joanne. Whether by coincidence or not, Cooper's film focuses on the notion of authenticity in music and how it can interact with celebrity. Where previous editions of A star is born less concerned about art being created, Cooper manages to feel new thanks to his attention to detail.

First A star is bornEsther Blodgett (Gaynor) is a girl from North Dakota who is engulfed by Hollywood, where she travels to become an actress. She meets and falls in love with Norman Maine (March), a great idol in an alcoholic spiral, who helps her get her first big role. From there, Esther's career skyrockets and, although she marries Norman, he quickly becomes a millstone, unable to get rid of his addiction. It is a cycle that is repeated in the versions of 1954 and 1976 – the relationship is always paternalistic, and alcoholism is nothing more than a device of intrigue, a representation of the indisputable pressures of the life in the spotlight.

Cooper's film is much more important to humanize the male leader, now a country singer named Jackson Maine. This is a choice that may seem counter-intuitive given the predominance of male motor vehicles in the movies, but the most intelligent character that Cooper (who co-wrote the film with Eric Roth and Will Fetters). Maine feels like a real person and her problems are perceived as real problems, rather than as symbols of something bigger. This makes Ally's (Gaga) decision to embark with Maine much more plausible, especially as it begins to decline; their destinies feel mingled for more than mere conspiracy purposes.

Ally remains of course the main character of the film. Lady Gaga is at the top of the credits (but strangely not on the movie poster), and the songs of Ally (written by Gaga and others) occupy a central place. But the triumph of the film lies in Cooper's ability to indulge in pure romanticism – the relationship at its center and the act of creativity itself. The scenes of the film writing and performing songs by Jackson and Ally are the most exciting; The main tension of the duo in the darker final act revolves around the idea and the definition of "sell".