If it is simply a matter of facial musculature, then anyone (male or female)-- should be able to exactly recreate Alizee’s facial expressions.

For Julia (or someone else), it would of course be an act. But if the facial expressions were recreated exactly, there would be no way for an observer to tell that it was an act.

But my theory is that because of Alizee’s superior physical coordination, it is easier for Alizee to make facial expressions. In other words, it may take Alizee much less mental effort to perform a given facial expression than the average individual.

It would be an interesting experiment to sit Alizee down and show her a series of photographs of different people making different facial expressions, and ask her to imitate each expression. Some of the expressions would be just ordinary emotional expressions, but others would be “funny faces.” So we would show Alizee a photo, and then ask Alizee to imitate the face. (And there would be no mirror.) And then we’d show Alizee the next photo, and ask her to imitate that face. Etc.

And then we run the same experiment with Julia.

My prediction is that Alizee will be far superior to Julia at this task. For example, Alizee can do it quickly--- study the photo for a second or two, and then accurately imitate the face. Whereas Julia will be slower, and the face she makes will be less accurate.

That’s my prediction, anyways. I really think that it comes down to a form of physical coordination.

We know that Alizee’s general physical coordination-- as evidenced by her dancing and the gracefulness of her walk--- we know that Alizee’s physical coordination is in the top 1%. And we know that Alizee is in the top 1% in terms of facial expressiveness. (Do you agree?) I hypothesize that the two are connected.

Awhile back, I saw a photograph on the forum--- I wish I had downloaded it--- where it looked like Alizee had combined 4 or 5 different facial expressions into a single expression. I think the average person would find it very difficult to imitate. That suggests to me that some kind of superior physical coordination is involved.

Anyways, I don’t know how to prove any of this. (It makes me wonder if psychologists have ever done research on this. Do people actually vary in their ability to make voluntary facial expressions?)

There looks to have been a lot of studies done on facial expressions, or so says Google. I just don't have the time to (or necessarily the interest) to dig deeply into the subject. You can do it and just write the summary in a post. ;)

Alizee has a lot of involuntary facial expressions, much more than the average person. I don't think she practices them or thinks about it at all. I can't think of anybody I enjoy more watching just for plain entertainment value as she interacts with people and her surroundings.

Her epic smile is something she did even in her early childhood photos. She is just a smiley person in contrast to the rest of her family who tend to look pretty stoic in pictures compared to her. There is a thread on this forum just on her "face scrunch". I used to think that maybe, possibly, it was voluntary, but I am convinced otherwise because she has done it on other occasions than when she was singing. Sometimes it happens really fast. She even does it on La Isla Bonita, but you have to be really observant to catch it.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/3...921/H82hXZ.png

Alizee is a talented clown who knows how to mimic French facial expressions in a humorous way. The best is one of her DALS interviews. I tried unsuccessfully to find a video of that. It's the one with a large yellow circle behind her. She is pretty funny in that. I think many of her facial expressions are practiced. She knows how to get a laugh.

On the video below at the 0:20 point there is a segment of the interview I was looking for where she was so effectively clowning around. Unfortunately, this video only shows a few seconds of that interview and it doesn't show any part of what I wanted.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxKhzL9V1iU

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TrB...ew?usp=sharing

t is true that she has expressions that one would not find in anyone else

Thanks for posting, but there is another video that I searched high and low for where she was on a show that showed her DALS bloopers. It had her in this setting, and I took some screen grabs of her expressions. I'll keep looking for it. Until then, here are the screen grabs.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/3...923/iCL4eL.jpg

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/3...923/nJ0WAV.jpg

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/3...921/91qLEu.jpg

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/3...922/WhzNgx.jpg

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/3...923/PnZZkk.jpg

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/3...924/eoAjPs.jpg

Except for the word "involuntary", I totally agree with that statement.

When you say "involuntary", you make it sound as if she has Tourette's.

No, I think her facial expressions are purely voluntary.

---

Do you see all of Alizee's face scrunches as being involuntary, or do you see some of them as being voluntary?

For instance, on that video in Japan, where she's sitting in the back seat of a car and she rolls up the window--- that would qualify as a face scrunch, wouldn't it? Assuming that it qualifies as a face scrunch--- that particular face scrunch is voluntary, isn't it?

It wouldn't make sense to me for some of Alizee's face scrunches to be voluntary and for some of Alizee's face scrunches to be involuntary. (If some face scrunches are voluntary and some are involuntary, what distinguishes them?)


As far as La Isla Bonita, I agree that she does a transient face scrunch at one point in the song.

It looks voluntary to me--- it seems to fit with that part of the song ("seems like yesterday..."). To me, that face scrunch is part of the performance. What about it makes you think that its involuntary?

Edit:

Someone (you?) shared it on their google drive a few months back; I downloaded it. The filename was "Alizée - Bêtisier." Does that help? (I have no google drive.)

Brilliant! You are correct.

In case somebody else wants it.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=13g...OrZ3XeNV_UNIWT

Edit:

That was making a funny face at her mother filming her. The same way she likes to stick her tongue out at the camera. There was premeditation involved, even if only lasting a millisecond.


I'm sure she knows she does it, but it would be hard to believe she plans it. Like sitting down with a sheet of music and penciling in the place where she will give a face scrunch. In Les Enfoires 2013, during a dance where she wasn't even in the spotlight, she can be seen doing it because of a fan video that was filming her from the audience. She wasn't even singing.

Maybe her actions are partially guided by some kind of instinct--- but as I see it, "instinctive" and "involuntary" are two different things.

Is that video available? I'd be curious to see it.

My mistake. She actually is singing and dancing at the same time, but the point is still the same. It's at about 0:53. It happens fast but is unmistakable.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Pn...1sFy584zA3Sq9M

I'm not sure if all the younger members realize, I paid to get translations done for all the DALS shows, well of course just the parts with Alizee in them. Here's week 6.

http://drive.google.com/file/d/1yYgr...ew?usp=sharing