Proust’s Madeleine for Generation Y, LOL reinvents itself in a sequel that finally makes room for queer characters. To be released in theaters this Wednesday, February 11.
In 2009, LOL (Laughing Out Loud) told the romantic misadventures of Lola, a high school girl as endearing as she is insufferable who shares a symbiotic bond with her mother (played by Sophie Marceau), and it met with real success among French teens. It stayed in theaters for more than four months and amassed over 3.5 million admissions, this third feature by Lisa Azuelos was hailed as a generational and cult work, akin to Diabolo menthe or La Boum in their era.
LOL 2.0, the sequel, still directed by Lisa Azuelos, opens in cinemas this Wednesday, February 11. While Sophie Marceau reclaims her character Anne, a harried architect-mom, Lola has, for her part, gone on a humanitarian trip in South America. It is Louise, her younger sister, still portrayed by Thaïs Alessandrin who has grown up, whom we meet again in this second installment.
Nothing is going well for the 23-year-old woman, who has just been dumped by her startup founder boyfriend. Dumped in every sense of the term, she returns to live with her mother, who herself has been unsettled since her son told her she would become a grandmother. The anxieties of these two women collide and feed this second installment, effective despite some weaknesses: a plot stitched in a rather obvious manner, an old-fashioned editing, and numerous stereotypes about Generation Z.
And LOL welcomed LGBT
While the LOL of 2009 offered a very normative social vision, as heterosexual as it was white, this second film changes the game and offers a more inclusive and more queer perspective. Charming despite its flaws, LOL 2.0 wins us over by taking us into Louise’s circle of friends. To better cope with her heartbreak, Louise knows she can count on Marie, a bisexual young woman who hides her party-going life from her Catholic parents; Joseph, a heterosexual man who flirts in a wheelchair since a road accident; and Lorenzo, openly gay and hooked on social networks, who has a crush on Noam, an aspiring director.
Provided that one forgives the film for trying to check all the boxes on the diversity bingo, it avoids clichés in its LGBT character portrayals, and the casting works wonderfully, with a special nod to Théo Augier, who plays Lorenzo and whom we will see again very soon in Nino dans la nuit at the cinema. The crush of the young man for Noam is treated with a certain tenderness. And the young filmmaker embodies a refreshing heterosexual masculinity, not feeling endangered by his friend’s feelings.
Even though the most queer contribution the LOL universe has brought is Christa Theret, the star of the first film, who came out in 2021, we grow fond of this tight-knit group that embodies a fluid and fresh youth.
