In France, "Barbie" was released on Wednesday. It was screened only for “selected” press, and now the uninvited critics, from some major publications, are complaining.
These peeved off critics are saying that those who were invited to Paris “Barbie” screenings were handpicked by Warner Bros: Only critics who were deemed "collaborative” and “influencers” one person said, were allowed to catch the film at press screenings.
This means the high-brows over at "Libération", "Télérama", "So Film", and "Cahiers du Cinéma" did not get a chance to watch and review ”Barbie” before its release date.
"Still no Barbie press screening" tweeted film critic, François Rieux deMelty on July 18. His colleague, Eric Vernay, an independent film journalist who writes for So Film, answered "only for journalists who got the Barbie logo tattooed on their forehead got invited.”
“Barbie” reviews in France are not as enthusiastic as they are in the U.S. The film currently holds a 3.4 rating on AlloCine, which is passable, but nowhere near the acclaim of American critics.
Cahiers du Cinema still hasn’t posted its review of the film and there are rumors that they might just boycott reviewing the film.
This whole situation is fairly similar to what happened Stateside. The first few “Barbie” U.S. screenings were packed with influencers and “Film Twitter” personalities. Actual film critics got a chance to see “Barbie” only a few days before its release.
Of course, this isn’t as bad as what happened in France. To have Libération and, especially, Cahiers du Cinéma not invited to any of the press screenings is rather blasphemous given that these are two of the most important cultural voices in the country.