TEHRAN- “Who You Think I Am,” a 2019 drama film directed by French filmmaker Safy Nebbou, will be reviewed at the Arasbaran Cultural Center in Tehran on Wednesday. 

Film critic Kourosh Jahed is set to attend a screening of the film followed by a review session.

Starring Juliette Binoche, François Civil and Nicole Garcia, “Who You Think I Am” is a gripping French drama that navigates the blurred lines between reality, digital artifice, and the psychological desperation of a woman grappling with invisibility. 

Based on Camille Laurens' novel, the film is a masterclass in suspense, told through layers of unreliable narration and nesting stories.
 
The plot centers on Claire (Binoche), a 50-year-old literature professor and divorced mother of two. Her journey begins in the aftermath of a casual, unsatisfying affair with a younger man named Ludovic. When Ludovic begins to ghost her, Claire’s insecurity leads her to a dangerous experiment: she creates a fake Facebook profile under the name Clara Antunès, using photos of a beautiful, 24-year-old woman. Her initial goal is to spy on Ludovic through his roommate, Alex (François Civil), but the deception quickly spirals into an emotional entanglement.

As Clara, Claire finds the validation she craves as an older woman in a youth-obsessed society. Alex falls deeply in love with the digital ghost, but the pressure to meet in person eventually forces Claire to kill off Clara by claiming she is moving to Brazil. The trauma of the breakup leads to a devastating revelation: Ludovic informs Claire that Alex, heartbroken by the psychopath who deceived him, has committed suicide.

However, the film’s structure is built on a series of therapy sessions between Claire and Dr. Bormans (Nicole Garcia), where we realize that Claire’s story is not a straightforward confession. The narrative shifts as Claire reveals the photos used were of her own niece, Katia, whom she had raised. As the sessions progress, Claire presents a manuscript—an alternative ending to her story—where she and Alex meet and find happiness, only for her paranoia to destroy them once more. Dr. Bormans observes that even in her fiction, Claire refuses to grant herself a happy ending, a sign of her deep-seated guilt and mental fragility.

The final act deconstructs everything the audience thought they knew. Through a meeting between Bormans and Ludovic, it is revealed that Alex is not dead; Ludovic had lied to punish Claire after recognizing her voice. More importantly, Claire’s trauma is traced back to its root: her husband Gilles had left her specifically for her niece, Katia. This betrayal catalyzed her obsession with reclaiming youth and her niece’s identity.

“Who You Think I Am” is a chilling exploration of the spectacle of the self in the age of social media. It portrays the internet as a space where the psyche can hide, but also where it can be utterly destroyed. In the haunting final scene, Claire—partially healed but still tethered to her addiction—reaches for her phone to call Alex. It is a poignant reminder that while avatars can be deleted, the emotional scars of digital intimacy are permanent.

SAB/