Daaaaaali!

Biopics are among the most common films being made these days. Some are great, some are decent, and others are more than a little conventional, following rote formats so meticulously that they can turn out shallow or dull. But, when it comes to telling the story of someone wholly unconventional, someone larger than life and the embodiment of surrealistic sensibilities, the tried and true simply won't work. And that's certainly the case with enigmatic artist Salvador Dalí, whose unusual paintings nearly always defied description and classification. He was also a shameless self-promoter with an ego the size of the planet and a capricious personality as eccentric as his creations. He often spoke about himself in the third person and spouted statements that required those skilled in the cryptic arts to decipher. So, with a subject like this, a formula biography simply would not work. Fortunately, that's precisely the thinking that writer-director Quentin Dupieux employed in coming up with this outrageously funny, eminently bizarre offering about a one-of-a-kind individual. In many ways, the film is a cinematic experiment in storytelling, enlivening its narrative in a manner as surreal as one of Dalí's works. It's rarely grounded in the straightforward, taking on dream-like qualities with running jokes, repeated but altered sequences and recurring characters that intertwine with one another in unexpected, truly out-there ways. The picture loosely follows the efforts of an aspiring journalist (Anais Demoustier) to secure an interview with her subject but who is routinely met with unrealistic, unforeseen obstacles (nearly always whimsically implemented by Dalí himself) in her attempts to pull it off. And, as the movie unfolds, it becomes impossible to follow any sense of reason in trying to figure out what's going on and where it might be headed (so don't even try). Instead, just sit back and enjoy the absurdity of it all - the very same attitude that one needs to employ when gazing upon one of the artist's paintings. This highly fitting approach to telling Dalí's story works brilliantly, especially coming from a filmmaker who has his own offbeat sensibilities about art, as seen in such prior releases as "Deerskin" (2019) and "Smoking Causes Coughing" (2022). In fact, "Daaaaaalí!" is so quirky and breaks the mold in so many ways that it even features five different actors (Edouard Baer, Jonathan Cohen, Gilles Lellouche, Pio Marmai and Didier Flamand) portraying the protagonist. And, to his credit, the director thankfully keeps the runtime short at 1:18:00 so as not to overstay his welcome and let the innate joke become tiresome. Still. Some might find this a frustrating offering to watch, but, if you're willing to suspend logic and convention (as you're clearly supposed to do), you're likely to find that this hilarious little gem will tickle your funny bone in myriad, unanticipated ways. After all, if the film's subject defies easy categorization, the last thing a director should do is needlessly confine him to a claustrophobic little box. And, fortunately, that's exactly the pitfall this release successfully manages to avoid.

I find probably true that you've never seen a movie like this. This kind of titles feel rare and so fresh that deserves all the atention of worldwide cinephiles.

The plot of the movie doesn't give too much away, and that's because this movie defies expectations until his very end. Weirldy funny and with a meta narrative like you've never seen.

Quentin Dupieux's cinema convinces through the understanding and precise conception of the absurd as the axis in his stories, and Daaaaaali! It is a demonstration of this. But not only for that merit does he emerge victorious, but his films also turn out to be active conversational exercises that dialogue with the viewer about how we absorb what we see on a big screen, and what are the emotions and sensations involved when watching a film. .

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A young journalist (Anais Demoustler: The Count of Monte Cristo) wants to do an interview and a documentary, meeting the iconic artist on several occasions, played by five actors (Edouard Baer, Jonathan Cohen, Gilles Lellouche, Pio Marmai, Didier Flamand .

Two authors of the irrational, Dali and Quentin Dupieux, come together in this delirious and intelligent portrait of the master of surrealism, full of imagination, fantasy, and creative freedom. This is not a film about Dali, but with Dali. Here, Dali multiplies himself in a peculiar reinterpretation of his figure; he is free and caricature-like, he escapes, he finds himself with his aging other self. And the simple plot focuses on a French journalist meets the iconic surrealist artist Salvador Dalí on several occasions for a documentary project that never came to be. Turning out to be a hilarious and unpredictable Dali, it is Dali in his most essential form.

The film has brief biographic remarks, and of course his wife Gala appears in short scenes while he is painting, but no his friends Federíco Garcia Lorca and Luís Buñuel, in fact Quentin didn't want to make a proper biopic of the painter, as he felt it would make no sense.

There are some Dalí paintings brought to life. So 3 famous Dalí paintings are re-enacted in the film as tableaux vivants: "Necrophilic Fountain Flowing from a Grand Piano" (1932), "The Average Fine and Invisible Harp" (1932), and the anachronistic "Dali from the Back Painting Gala from the Back Eternalized by Six Virtual Corneas Provisionally Reflected in Six Real Mirrors" (1972 - 1973).

In this regard, director Quentin Dupieux explains: "Dalí's greatest masterpiece according to Dupieux was his extravagant personality; with this film, I tried to imagine a dialogue between cinema and image. I don't have Dali's genius, so, in all modesty, the film is an attempt to pay him the craziest and most free homage possible¨.

This absurd motion picture was mediocrely directed by Quentin Dupieux . He has directed varios outlandish films as Incredible But True (2022). And Smoking causes coughing (2022) premiered at the midnight section of the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. After Quentin has made some bizarre, offbeat films, getting some french hits. He has directed: Le Daim or Deerskin (United States, English title) (2010), Au poste (2018), Mandibules (2020), Yannick (2023), and its most succesful film was Rubber (2010). Rating: 5.5/10. Only advisable for fans of strange and surreal films.

The Dupieux Inception made me laugh so much, I never know what to expect but it's an intergalactic foot every time, plus I love Dali! A little tripoté of actor to embody Dali, a divinatory Dali, timeless, in a film that seems to resume the end of 2001 without any limit. I won't be able to tell you what it means, but it's pretty crazy! No limit in time, logic, meaning?

It is the story of an interview, in a dream, in a film, in a painting, in an interview, in a dream, in a film, in a painting, etc, etc... It is crazy and I love and for me, it is Jonathan Cohen who gives the most life to the eccentric character, it is an absolute treat to see him take all the tics of the master!

I recommend to those who like the Dupieux style, the others, will be completely strawberry, as every time:D.

As she puts it herself, Judith was a pharmacist but it was way too boring, so she decided to be a journalist instead. So she becomes obsessed with the idea of interviewing Salvador Dalí for a magazine, but will she?

Quentin Dupieux is a master of making glued to the screen and laughing out loud even if there is no real plot in the film. In spite of Dalí, excuse me, Daaaaaalí involved, this one is more absurdism rather than surrealism, which is perfectly to my taste. The setting here is more significant than the content, and every moment, you never know what you're gonna see next. Pure cinematographic pleasure!

P. S. A great collaboration with Thomas Bangalter from Daft Punk for the music.