Le daim [Deerskin] (Quentin Dupieux, 2019)

[zedz]

I had never seen Neomie Merlant in anything before this and was utterly transfixed on every little thing she did, it was like a Moreauesque performance (and coincidentally having just seen Moreau bewitch her way through Malle’s The Lovers a few days ago, I don’t think I am reaching too far).

This reminds me that a couple of days after I saw Adele Haenel in [Portrait de la jeune fille en feu], I saw her in the absolutely bonkers Deerskin, which gave me a serious case of aesthetic whiplash.

[domino harvey]

I think three subsequent thread splits may be a record! Le daim is indeed quite bizarre, but plays its weirdness straight. Though it is a fool's errand to ever truly guess what Cahiers will praise, I imagine this one will be featuring in their contributors' year end top ten, what with the constant self-reflexivity of Jean Dujardin's "filmmaker" documenting with a small digital camcorder his quest to eradicate the world of jackets other than his own. I don't know if the film has US distribution yet (though I just Googled it and it will be playing the AFI in Silver Spring in December as part of their European showcase fest, for any DC-area members), but I can see this getting a Scream Factory treatment since the film unexpectedly turns into a

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slasher movie in the back half, climaxing in the unforgettable sight of a deered-up Dujardin gallivanting through the small provincial town carving up jacket-wearers with a sharpened ceiling fan blade

You have to give props to two of the biggest stars in France, Dujardin and Haenel, for taking the leap of faith to star in such a strange exercise as this. I've read some complaints that the film is too slight, but I wish more films had such a succinct clarity of vision-- I don't think the film needed to be any longer than the 76 minutes it is, and I wish more modern films erred in this direction rather than the Lav Diaz one

[knives]

Sounds like typical Dupieux nonsense which is something I like.

[swo17]

Same here

[lzx]

This happened to be my first Dupieux, and I had a blast, though I suppose it represents his off-kilter style very well and wouldn't convert anyone who dislikes the sensibility (roughly a third of the audience walked out of my screening before things got truly crazy). Its length is certainly an asset, as is Dujardin and Haenel's perverse chemistry. One thing that really tickled me was how Haenel's character initially comes across as an ingénue who totally falls under the manipulations of Dujardin's character, only for her to

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reveal at the end that she knows him to be a sham all along -- though what she hopes to gain from this parasitic relationship is never explained!

The film does have US distribution; Greenwich plans to give it a theatrical run early next year.

I wish more modern films erred in this direction rather than the Lav Diaz one

Having seeing this and The Halt within days of each other, I couldn't agree more.

[therewillbeblus]

One thing that really tickled me was how Haenel's character initially comes across as an ingénue who totally falls under the manipulations of Dujardin's character, only for her to

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reveal at the end that she knows him to be a sham all along -- though what she hopes to gain from this parasitic relationship is never explained!

I took this to be a similar kind of urge to be seen or to obtain and hold onto a sense of purpose in a meaningless world.

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Her willingness to go along with the whole scheme and with gusto, throwing away tons of money, time, and allow herself to be lied to, simply to be given an opportunity to engage in her passion matches his obsession to be unique. The complete self-focus exists in both characters, his with vanity and hers with a purpose of her own in step with each other on the same plain of narcissistic personality. There isn’t much to go on regarding the rest of the world as tonally ‘off’ except for the hotel manager nonchalantly disclosing the suicide and presenting as numb to socially acceptable behavior, but that was enough for me to see this as a kind of alternate- or more aptly, exaggerated- reality. It’s also significant that despite Dujardin‘s vanity, he shoos off all followers, from the prostitute, to the boy following him, and even Haenel, as if he wants to be special and seen but when this actually occurs he retreats as the fantasy is flooded with his true antisocial nature. At the end when she ignores his dead body, takes the jacket and films herself, Haenel only shows affect in her solipsism when she is doing the shooting and as she sees herself as the subject with his jacket on and becomes important in a new way. What elevated everything for me as icing on the cake was the final reveal that, despite our attention throughout the narrative on his bizarre behavior, Dujardin is actually not alone or special in this absurd egotistical mindset and this only accentuated the joke of the film.