Le daim

Well, that was a neat, little, indie experimental film and now I'll be sure not to wear a jacket in France.

The trailer calls this "Wickedly Funny." I did not laugh once, or recognize any humor in this movie. For me, this was a very short film about a man extremely ill and his continual journey into the abyss while he still grasps for more and more.

Georges is a man who's left everything behind to pursue...unclear, but what is known: he sought out a used deerskin jacket he wildly paid too much for and because of that, the seller throws in a video camera. Georges lands at a hotel and the cons are on. He's simultaneously "making a film" and is aware his jacket wants him all to its lonesome. At any cost.

Very well shot, acted, intense, unpredictable and enormously original, I would recommend this very quick gem just to see a different kind of "protagonist." A very ill one.

***

Final thoughts: I hadn't known this was going to become a horror. Technically, it's not, but it does get violent and gory integral to the plot.

Who knows what goes through the mind of a recently separated middle aged man, but if you want an insight into one such gentleman, one with a suede fetish (haven't we all in various interpretations of that word), a penchant for jacket genocide and an ever so slight psychological, psychopathic derangement, then look no further. Jean Dujardin plays an aging buck who impulsively scalps his way through events with the edited financial assistance of the ever elegant Adèle Haenel. Extremely gamy, an acquired taste perhaps.

Hi folks! Usually, I just do not have enough time to leave my reviews, I just watch too many movies.:) However, just cannot agree with rather low rating of this spectacular superb quality aburd-style gem of a movie. I will certainly parallel it to Lars von Trier "Jack that built the house". I saw the same mental problematic, however, there are of course diverse ideas behind of each of the two movies. I wanted also to stress the superb quality of Dupieux of creating a slow crescendo that ends just right. It is by no doubts a "cousin" of great Lars. Pitty that Dupieux is not famous, otherwise this movie would at least won Sundance or Cannes or Berlinale.

This French movie (with subtitles) by Quentin Dupieux is a black comedy that veers towards the violently absurd. So it certainly won't be for everyone.

Positives:

• There's an anarchy to the black comedy on show in Deerskin that's mildly exhilarating. It really IS bloody bonkers. But the absurd story, of a man spiralling into a deerskin-lined black hole, is delivered in an extremely entertaining way.

• It's all delivered with a straight face by Dujardin (famous of course as the Oscar-winner from "The Artist"). And very good he is at it too.

• Adèle Haenel was one of the two lovers in "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" (actually completed after this movie, which has been on the Covid-shelf since 2019). Here she again shows star-power as the barmaid with dreams of hitting the movie-making big-time. Every absurd twist and turn seems to be believable in her hands, once you understand that she is "into it".

Negatives:

• The anarchic story and the extreme violence will not be for everyone. There were 2 walk-outs in my cinema (about 10% of the Cineworld Unlimited audience).

• A few of the lines irritate: Georges mistakenly saying "creditor" instead of "editor" was an example.

Summary Thoughts on "Deerskin": Based on the trailer, I really wasn't sure I was going to enjoy this one. But it has a style about it that is unmistakable. I had no idea where it was going, and the denouement was surprising and satisfying.

It'll be a "marmite" film for sure - some will love it; many will hate it. I doubt there will be much middle ground for this one.

BTW, there is a mid-credits scene, a few seconds into the end credits. Doesn't add much, to be honest.

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In a role that was made for Jean Dujardin, he acts like he has been doing this for a long time. By 'this' I mean executing an eccentric project that is about to take over his life and muddle his relationship with the world. And by 'the world' I mean the sorry village that his Georges character travels to after buying a vintage jacket made of 100% deerskin which also marks his obsession with it, something that both induces laughter in its audience and also highlights the crazy, primal nature of obsessive compulsion characterized by depression, loneliness, and unconditional enmity against the humankind. I have no words to describe the virulent turn Le daim (Deerskin) takes as Georges laughingly has his way by conspiring with himself to take forward his obsession with his deerskin jacket, which I should add is 'killer style' in his own words. Whether it is the inflated price that he pays for the second-hand jacket or the newfound skill of videography or mistaking a film editor with a creditor, Le daim has been written in a way that is guaranteed to make you laugh every five minutes. The outlandish plot, accentuated by terrific performances by Dujardin and Adele Haenel (who acts with her face and that's enough) and also by the peculiar style of referral writing (where the aftermath of an event in a scene is shown in the following one or the one after that) by director-writer Quentin Dupieux makes this comedy crime drama a blast experience. I can't recommend it more and I am definitely going to be watching more of Dupieux's work. Bravo! TN.

(Watched and reviewed at its India premiere at the 21st MAMI Mumbai Film Festival.)