LE MONDE'S OPINION – TO SEE

The word "Beetlejuice" is something of a gothic Proustian madeleine for those who, as teenagers, discovered the ghost film Tim Burton brought out in the late 1980s. Arriving in theaters 36 years after Beetlejuice (1988), the second part, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, by the same American filmmaker is bound to pique much interest.

There's something reassuring about seeing the same white house with the pointed roof intact, overlooking the small, neat, miniature town of Winter River: It brings back memories. Beetlejuice began with the story of a perfect couple, Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara Maitland (Geena Davis), who thought they had their whole lives ahead of them. They were wrong, since a stupid car accident – they had to avoid a small dog – killed them instantly.

Their charming home was sold to another family, the Deetzes: Delia (Catherine O'Hara), her husband, Charles (Jeffrey Jones), and their slightly perky daughter, Lydia (Winona Ryder). Now ghosts, Adam and Barbara couldn't stand their presence and decided to give the new occupants a hard time, first by their own ineffectual means, then with the help of a bio-exorcist, always ready to render his cursed services, the notorious Beetlejuice, played by Michael Keaton. Just say his name three times and he appears...

With movie magic and make-up, Michael Keaton reprises the role of the demon with verve, shaggy hair and a suit with big stripes in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Unveiled at the opening of the Venice Film Festival on August 28, the film focuses on the Deetz family, particularly the women, with the same actresses, Winona Ryder and Catherine O'Hara, reprising their characters. Now an adult, Lydia is the host of a spiritualist talk show. Always on edge, she's convinced she's seeing visions of Beetlejuice and has great difficulty communicating with her daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega).

As for the father, Charles, played by Jeffrey Jones in 1988, he no longer appears in the second opus, probably because the actor was convicted of sexual assault of a minor in the early 2000s. In Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, a short cartoon flashback tells us that Charles died on an expedition at sea, his head swallowed by a shark. His character then prowls throughout the film in the guise of a bloody, decapitated monster...

We can count on Burton's overflowing imagination, who has also created new protagonists: Monica Bellucci, who plays a villain, appears cut into tiny pieces, repairing her body and dark beauty with a stapler; Willem Dafoe plays a second-rate actor who is reincarnated in the afterlife as a policeman, etc.

You have 30.16% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.