DEERSKIN
****
Director: Quentin Dupieux
Screenwriter: Quentin Dupieux
Principal cast:
Jean Dujardin
Adèle Haenel
Albert Delpy
Coralie Russier
Laurent Nicolas
Marie Bunel
Country: France
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 77 mins.
Australian release date: 6 August 2020.
Deerskin, directed by Quentin Dupieux, is a quirky horror flick that is an off-the-wall delight. Jean Dujardin (whose acting career has been pretty diverse when you consider his roles in Little White Lies, The Artist, The Wolf of Wall Street and The Monuments Men) revels in this latest leading role as a man who has left his wife, children, job and everyday life behind, to follow his dream and find his one true desire - to own a deerskin jacket. Dujardin once again demonstrates his versatility as we follow this ordinary man down the rabbit hole into madness.
The film opens with the frustrated 44-year-old Georges (Dujardin), attempting to stuff his corduroy jacket down the toilet of a motorway petrol station. As the bowl overflows, he heads off to find an obscure address somewhere in the French Pyrenees to purchase a 1970s fringed deerskin jacket (for an outrageous price) from an old farmer, who throws in an equally old digital camera as a bonus. As he gazes admiringly at his image in the mirror, ignoring the fact that the jacket is way too small for him, he reflects on his “killer style”. Checking into a local hotel, he discovers that his credit card has been blocked and, when he telephones his estranged wife to find out why, he is told that he “no longer exists”. Georges then sets off on a path to re-invent himself. At a local bar, when quizzed as to what he does, his off-the-cuff response is to say that he is a cinéaste, a filmmaker. Before long, a working relationship has developed with the barmaid Denise (Adèle Haenel, seen earlier this year in Portrait Of A Lady On Fire), who reveals that she is a wannabe film editor who has re-cut Pulp Fiction so that it runs in chronological order. It’s a clue that she may be just as batty as he is. When Georges’ jacket starts speaking to him and declares that it wants to be the only jacket in the world, the wheels are set in motion for the ‘filmmaker’ to actually make a film.
Deerskin is shot in muted beige tones, a decision made between Dupieux (who also shot and edited) and his art director wife, Joan Le Boru. They decided that they wanted this subdued colour palette to be in keeping with Georges’ sartorial acquisitions but also to be in opposition to the sharp edges of the digital medium; they deliberately wanted their images to look ‘soft’. The film opened the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes last year and divided the critics attending the Festival. Many saw it as an allegory of the filmmaking process and the role of the director but Dupieux cautions about taking this theory too far, saying, “there’s nothing tongue in cheek about it. Georges finds a way to be creative, to express himself with a camera. In the end, it was more an homage to the child I was - as a teenager I made little horror films in the woods with my buddies as actors - than an earnest discourse about the cinema”. He adds, “I wanted to film insanity. I’ve been pigeonholed as a director who makes crazy films, but I never really filmed insanity head on. I really wanted to finally confront a character who goes off the deep end, with no fancy tricks, without my usual fakery. And so Deerskin is my first realistic film. I know people laugh when I say it, but that’s what I truly believe”.
This is a film that will appeal to some and be derided by others. The director insists that Georges “doesn’t know shit about making a movie. He’s just filming”. Dupieux, fortunately, does “know shit” about filmmaking and his film is a fine example of the craft when it is handled by one who knows what they’re doing. Deerskin may not be everybody’s cup of tea but you’ll definitely know that you are in the hands of a real cinéaste.
Screenwriter: Quentin Dupieux
Principal cast:
Jean Dujardin
Adèle Haenel
Albert Delpy
Coralie Russier
Laurent Nicolas
Marie Bunel
Country: France
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 77 mins.
Australian release date: 6 August 2020.
Deerskin, directed by Quentin Dupieux, is a quirky horror flick that is an off-the-wall delight. Jean Dujardin (whose acting career has been pretty diverse when you consider his roles in Little White Lies, The Artist, The Wolf of Wall Street and The Monuments Men) revels in this latest leading role as a man who has left his wife, children, job and everyday life behind, to follow his dream and find his one true desire - to own a deerskin jacket. Dujardin once again demonstrates his versatility as we follow this ordinary man down the rabbit hole into madness.
The film opens with the frustrated 44-year-old Georges (Dujardin), attempting to stuff his corduroy jacket down the toilet of a motorway petrol station. As the bowl overflows, he heads off to find an obscure address somewhere in the French Pyrenees to purchase a 1970s fringed deerskin jacket (for an outrageous price) from an old farmer, who throws in an equally old digital camera as a bonus. As he gazes admiringly at his image in the mirror, ignoring the fact that the jacket is way too small for him, he reflects on his “killer style”. Checking into a local hotel, he discovers that his credit card has been blocked and, when he telephones his estranged wife to find out why, he is told that he “no longer exists”. Georges then sets off on a path to re-invent himself. At a local bar, when quizzed as to what he does, his off-the-cuff response is to say that he is a cinéaste, a filmmaker. Before long, a working relationship has developed with the barmaid Denise (Adèle Haenel, seen earlier this year in Portrait Of A Lady On Fire), who reveals that she is a wannabe film editor who has re-cut Pulp Fiction so that it runs in chronological order. It’s a clue that she may be just as batty as he is. When Georges’ jacket starts speaking to him and declares that it wants to be the only jacket in the world, the wheels are set in motion for the ‘filmmaker’ to actually make a film.
Deerskin is shot in muted beige tones, a decision made between Dupieux (who also shot and edited) and his art director wife, Joan Le Boru. They decided that they wanted this subdued colour palette to be in keeping with Georges’ sartorial acquisitions but also to be in opposition to the sharp edges of the digital medium; they deliberately wanted their images to look ‘soft’. The film opened the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes last year and divided the critics attending the Festival. Many saw it as an allegory of the filmmaking process and the role of the director but Dupieux cautions about taking this theory too far, saying, “there’s nothing tongue in cheek about it. Georges finds a way to be creative, to express himself with a camera. In the end, it was more an homage to the child I was - as a teenager I made little horror films in the woods with my buddies as actors - than an earnest discourse about the cinema”. He adds, “I wanted to film insanity. I’ve been pigeonholed as a director who makes crazy films, but I never really filmed insanity head on. I really wanted to finally confront a character who goes off the deep end, with no fancy tricks, without my usual fakery. And so Deerskin is my first realistic film. I know people laugh when I say it, but that’s what I truly believe”.
This is a film that will appeal to some and be derided by others. The director insists that Georges “doesn’t know shit about making a movie. He’s just filming”. Dupieux, fortunately, does “know shit” about filmmaking and his film is a fine example of the craft when it is handled by one who knows what they’re doing. Deerskin may not be everybody’s cup of tea but you’ll definitely know that you are in the hands of a real cinéaste.