User reviews

I saw this film at the Film Fest Ghent 2014, where it was part of the official Competition. Previously, I saw Rubber of the same film maker at the Imagine film festival 2011 in Amsterdam. I wrote a positive review at the time, accepting the fact that I was a minority. Most others could not appreciate the absurd undertone and the almost absent narrative.

Recalling my good memories in favor or Rubber, it may be possible that I had expected more of this successor. Nevertheless, it delivers an absurd story you'd expect from this film maker. Compared with Rubber there are less LOL (laughing out loud) moments, however. Instead, we can enjoy a humorous undertone all along the running time, while contradictions and absurdities come along in abundance.

It is no use to condense the story in a few lines, not even several paragraphs won't do, still without any chance of getting the absurd message(s) across. Brace yourself, and let this movie come over you. It may change your view on film and film making. On the other hand, I sincerely hope that we do not have to take this backstage view on the film industry seriously.

All in all, in spite of (or thanks to) all the controversies this film maker causes, I look forward to more products along the same line. His products are well made, and supported by good actors. That his narratives lack a logical story line, is more like a signature rather than a defect.

This is an incredibly odd film that basically occupies itself with contradicting everything you might expect. From the narrative structure of the film itself, down to the smallest details. A little girl's name is Reality yet she experiences things that can't possibly happen like seeing a videotape come out of a boar's stomach or her mother reading her a bedtime story that exactly recounts what happened to her that day. A cooking show host wears a rat costume (hygiene?), a french speaking producer has an American name (Bob Marshall), a starting director pitches the worst idea for a movie ever and says it took him four years to come up with it and the producer likes it but focuses on a very small detail. The movie is build on these types of contradictions, leading to funny scenes (the smoking scene is hilarious), but often to just plain absurdity.

Because the narrative structure of the movie itself is contradictory to what you as a viewer expect from a movie the whole thing stays enjoyable, literally anything can happen. In the end everything sort of works out and the story lines are tied in with each other in a way that makes sense. Not 'real' sense, but within the movie's logic (or lack thereof). I agree with another reviewer that one can't really compare this movie to anything else (maybe Dupieux earlier film Wrong), which makes grading it a tad difficult. On the whole I found it an incredibly amusing experience, though I can understand that other people might not. But if you are open minded about movies...

Step into the world of Realité, in which secretaries are creepy, you can go into work and discover that you are already there and if you decline a cigarette because you don't smoke, you will get one forced on you.

I've seen my fair share of confusing films throughout my life. But they're usually confusing in such different ways. I don't think i'd ever seen a film quite like this. It can definitely be enjoyable on a scene-to-scene basis, no doubt, but it can also leave you wondering just what exactly is going on. Does the film amount to anything? I'm not quite sure, but I did enjoy it. It's ded=finitely a very divisive film, one where people will either love or hate (and the reason I don't either is because I do think I'm more open tot his sort of thing. I wouldn't recommend this to all audiences (maybe not even to most) but I do think there is a lot of merit here.

French filmmaker Quentin Dupieux's Reality begins as a series of seemingly unrelated, absurd vignettes, before morphing into full blown metaphysical madness.

Various narrative strands intersect and overlap in strange and surreal ways in this crazy quilt of a movie that recalls the works of Bunuel, Lynch and Kaufman.

Although the film can sometimes feel like an exercise in cleverness, it is funny and engaging throughout, and is a refreshing change of pace from the cookie-cutter Hollywood machine.

Yesterday I saw Réalité for the second time. And I found it even better than the first time. So I had to upgrade my rating from 9 to 10. Why? Well, because this film is... genius... funny... and a great trip altogether:

The main story is about a guy (Jason) who has an idea for a film, but all he needs to get a contract signed, is the perfect (death)scream. He strains every nerve to obtain this sound. Then there is also the story of the producer who offers to sign this film, but who is also working on another film. This film, directed by cult director 'Zog', is very intriguing, compelling, a little bit artsy, and eventually the stories get mixed up with each other, and other stories. These other stories involving a cooking studio, a guy who likes dressing up like a woman, and a few more.

Boy, did I had a good time watching this movie! The absurd dialogues, the details, the music, the plots mixing together. It had me glued in my chair like Jason.

The acting is very good. The filming as well.

I believe perhaps one would enjoy the movie more if you're bilingual (French-English)

But all in all, one of the most sophisticated movies I've seen in a long time. If you like David Lynch, you will like Réalité

There is genius in this film. If you are bored with much of the formulaic output of Hollywood, but still have a passion for film, this might just be for you. Granted, it's not for everyone. I can only speak for myself. I still have chills from my first viewing. Only after it was over did I understand I had just watched the second film from the man behind Rubber. Glad I didn't even know, as expectations would have been quite high. Having grown up with rented video tapes in the 80's, this speaks to me on an intuitive level, using a language of cues, but remixed with a great deal of finesse and an engaging visual style, which had me grabbing frames here and there for inspiration in my architectural work. While shot with a keen eye for color, depth and composition, the film's strength lies in its mastery of the time domain.

The storyline edits weave jaggedly into each other in a provocative manner and the art house ingredient, psychedelic in its simplicity, works its magic once it has taken hold of you. I see no room for improvement here, it is simply a great work. Where Rubber was a testament to the strength of the storytelling formula, this is the master wielding it just forcefully enough to grab people's attention. I suspect there's a lot more where this came from. As someone who lives with parts of stories, unfinished tracks slaved over in the recording studio, this ode to the behind- the-scenes heroics of unsung heroes was beyond captivating. Like an Ayahuasca trip, it is best described as liberating...like an itch, scratched at last. Bravo!

Greetings again from the darkness. For those who found last year's Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) to be too linear and overly coherent, be sure to track down the latest from writer/director Quentin Dupieux. You might recognize the name from his films that have developed cult followings – Rubber (2010) and Wrong (2012).

Dupieux seems obsessed with the blurred lines between the conscious and sub-conscious, so one can only imagine what he means by titling his movie "Reality". To ensure that we remain in a constant cloud of confusion, there is a key character who is a young girl (Kyla Kenedy) acting in her own movie. Her name is … what else? … Reality.

One can't really use the term plot when describing the film, but what follows is my best attempt. Jason Tantra (played by the always terrific Alain Chabat) is a camera man on a locally produced TV talk show about cooking that stars a rat costume-wearing host Denis (Jon Heder, Napoleon Dynamite). Jason wants to make his own movie starring a reluctant Denis (who suffers from eczema on the inside), and pitches his sci-fi idea of human-killing TV sets to film producer Bob Marshall (played by Jonathan Lambert). Marshall agrees to back the movie if Jason can come up with an award-winning perfect groan of pain within 48 hours. Meanwhile Reality (the girl) is being filmed by avant-garde director Zog (John Glover), and she finds a blue video cassette inside the gut of a wild boar killed by her father. In the process of trying to watch the tape, she spots a cross-dressing Eric Wareheim (from "Tim and Eric" fame) driving a military jeep through town. In one of his many dreams, Jason pictures himself at the awards ceremony where he wins for best groan … the award is presented by Oscar winning director Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist) and Roxane Mesquida (who was in Rubber). The topper of all sequences involves Jason having a phone conversation with producer Marshall while at the theatre watching his unmade movie while Marshall simultaneously has an in-person meeting with Jason. If you follow any of the above, this movie is made for you. If you didn't follow any of it, congratulations on your continued socially acceptable level of sanity.

Inside jokes abound here, and Dupieux takes a few shots at the filmmaking business, and what constitutes creativity. Fellow French filmmaker Michel Gondry (The Science of Sleep, 2006) may be the closest comparison to Dupieux, but the latter seems more focused on pushing the boundaries of lunacy and yes, Reality.

I first learned of Quentin Dupieux when I saw his 2010 absurdist black comedy "Rubber" (about a tire on a killing spree). Now comes "Réalité" ("Reality" in English), about a director who has to find the ideal groan of pain for a proposed movie. At least that's the main plot. Throughout the movie, reality, fiction and dreams keep overlapping so that you're not sure just what is real. David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive" is probably the only other movie that messes with your mind this much.

This movie won't be for everyone. You have to be willing to accept the repeated shift from apparent reality to fiction, often taking place simultaneously. Assuming that you enjoy a movie that deliberately confuses you, you'll like this one. It's not like anything that you've ever seen.

PS: Quentin Dupieux is an electronic musician who goes by Mr. Oizo (a corruption of the French word for bird).

Pun quite intended. If you know the director, you will be aware that the movies he has put out can be called anything - but ordinary. Or predictable for that matter. Having said that, this is especially weird ... with many things not making sense ... well in the real world. On the other hand, what is reality if not fiction? Or something along those lines.

If you are being told certain things, if life itself unravels in front of you ... if you have to look for a special scream ... which is necessary, because otherwise the great movie you think you have ready to be produced ... well will not be made. There is so much to unpack, there are so many things that cancel each other out, there are so many expectations that are willfully not met. There is craziness and then there is this ... tough to rate and/or review. So I can only tell you what you can expect .. sort of. Because nothing can prepare you ... other than having watched his other movies that is.

damn, before watching, i had no clue what to expect, and after watching it, i still don't know what happened. The name is very suiting and everything about the story is insane, its so confusing and amazing. At least for me. The first half of the movie is just like a normal movie, with a few interesting scenes and story lines. but once you get into the 50 minute mark, your mind gets blown and the score you were planning on giving rises from a 6 to a 8, 9 or 10. But if you don't like unique and strange movies (which i don't think a lot of people do, this is truly unique to not like it) your score might drop lower to a 3 or a 4. I saw one review of this movie saying he got too bored after 30 minutes and stopped watching the movie, well i guess he missed the good crazy parts that make this movie so special, unique, bizarre, and in a strange way incredibly good. The simple utter confusion of the movie is what makes this one so special and good. simply a must watch. Be prepared to get confused!

It's been a long time since I've given 10/10 to a full-lenght feature (gave one to Capernaum as well) and I only have like a dozen of 10/10 rated movies here on IMDB from 1000+ rated titles. This was so deserving! It's brilliant.. it will leave you puzzled and elated how good it is

Dupieux lines up again into a circular, nearly closed form of movie-making, that allows him to break out into freedom.

This movie is an awake an awake an awake of 'gasp!', by being very natural with the strangeness of discontinuity of interwoven realities.

If You like the vortex-character of Lynch-movies, but with the lighter atmosphere of Michel Gondry (Sience of Sleep),-

in other words if You are interested in this direction of mind-resetting,

check 'Rubber' , 'Wrong' and 'Réalité' out.

This is definitely fresh material to feed Your deconstructing mind.

Maybe it is better not to read anything about this movie, and fully get slapped, same feeling as getting the meaning of « Lost highway » and « Mullholand drive » like a flash on a grey morning.

Vibe, ambiance, irony are the guideline, its this kind of unique movie, a vibe you never experienced before.

I think Dupieux reached his best with this one, in the spirit of his previous stuff, trying to lose the audience in the movie inside the movie inside the movie.. its at the same time completely insane, illogic and beautifully tied up, logic!! Amazing casting, amazing exprerience and totally a masterpiece

This film is trying to make film that is trying to comprehend the paradox of fiction in a nut case of a film trying to do something but tired, and wont even have the energy to explain but has the power to dazzle and put our mind in our socks, it's that we cannot unlearned what we were being afraid of the endless thinking and solving the unknown by resting our head on the grass feeling the heat as it will gives us eczema from the inside and grow butterflies in our stomach for flowing reasons.

What is reality?

Every single person has his own perception on reality. Life that is created to us was a blank, as people that are created into this world created its meanings, and sense. If we try to do anything, its chained with non-existence halo.

Water drips, hearing noises, feeling the salt, comprehending existence, undo questions, hiding mortality, embracing madness, uniting the web that connect us but don't at the same time, we don't relate to anything that have gravity, few in an unbreakable melon of thoughtfulness and unreachable beauty. Guarding our control, to update our creation in their world...

A completely non-linear film about dreams and interaction between the reality and the subconscious. It reminded me of Buñuel ("The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie") and to some extent of Lynch, only it is absolutely fragmented (which makes it impossible to explain the plot), and much more comical. It also has a lot of inner jokes about movies and filmmaking.

Fascinating film about the intertwining of reality and fiction. Several levels of reality and narrative lines mingle without us knowing where reality is and where the dream is. As with Buñuel or Borges, the dream is included in a dream which is included in a dream which is included in a dream...

This could have been too cold or abstract, but an ensemble of fun, very well-acted characters make it an enjoyable experience. There are many hilarious scenes, especially with the aspiring filmmaker Jason Tantra (Alain Chabat) and the film producer Bob Marshall (Jonathan Lambert). The fact that half of the actors are French and speak French and the other half are American and speak English adds to the diffracted and unsettling nature of the film.

This mad premise is supported and enhanced by a haunting musical loop composed by Philip Glass which constitutes the only music soundtrack of the film. Fantastic.

When a filmmaker commits to Being Weird, they generally fall into one of two categories. There are those filmmakers who find a comfortable quirkiness that becomes a staple of their work, something that viewers plainly rely upon, but which runs the risk of becoming conventional or maybe even a little tired over time. Alternatively, some filmmakers inhabit a space of oddity that may appeal to a relatively select audience: predictable only in that it will be off the wall and wildly absurd, and what shape the curiosity will take in each instance is anyone's guess. Quentin Dupieux, happily, indulges in the latter type of Weird. From the Fourth Wall-breaking bizarrerie of 'Rubber' to the ingenious deadpan brilliance of 'Deerskin,' the only thing we can specifically expect from Dupieux is the outrageous and flummoxing. And so it is here, for 2014's 'Réalité' borders on the same territory then goes far, far afield: somewhat centering a delightfully peculiar notion, then coyly messing around with dreams, make-believe, memories, time, and the very fabric of, well, reality - all of which it happily twists, abuses, disregards, and otherwise takes in wondrous new directions. As it does, it shares the offbeat whimsy of the man's other works, but is absolutely and unmistakably an imaginative creation all its own. And as one should assume of Dupieux, it's also a total blast!

There are major flavors of darkness in the comedy and storytelling here that both belie the cheeky playfulness of the assemblage, and are part and parcel of it. Yet while these make the first impression, as the length advances the picture soars well beyond any concrete discernible through-line of narrative development, exhibiting an incredible tangle that sails past "comedy" and "drama" to toy with fantasy and sci-fi. More than that, "fever dream" might be the best descriptor, as 'Inception' looks like child's play by comparison, and Richard Linklater's 'Waking life' seems straightforward when standing next to this; the nearest points of reference might actually be Charlie Kaufman's 'Synecdoche, New York,' or 'I'm thinking of ending things.' It's a lot to try to absorb at any time, and possibly more than with any other movie that comes to mind, the more one tries to think about it the more confounding it becomes. Still, even if one watches 'Réalité' and abjectly hates it, I don't think there's any disputing the incredible intelligence Dupieux poured into this film, nor the utmost skill that has brought it to astounding, vivid life. His projects may seem like an ungodly gobbledygook mishmash smorgasbord of bafflement, but as both writer and director he demonstrates again and again how remarkably shrewd he really is, and this is no different.

I don't even know how I'd rightly begin to describe the plot, such as it is, but each thread is fabulously smart even before they all melt together into a slurry of pure far-out surrealism. Even scenes, characters, and dialogue eventually blend in a fashion where it's hard to separate them, coming across like the strangest daydream one's brain has ever subjected them to. Along the way the cast unfailingly make the most of their own little slice of this collective hallucination, all obviously having a great time (Alain Chabat not least) and even without perfect knowledge it's hard not to think that this is probably the most outlandish, singular production that most of them have ever been involved with. (I don't know how Jon Heder came to participate, but I'm overjoyed.) It's really just a pleasure to watch them all contribute to the madness that 'Réalité' represents - and that pretty well extends to those behind the scenes, too. The production design and props are as terrifically inventive as Dupieux's screenplay, with props and effects close behind. I almost wonder if Dupieux wasn't having even more fun here while wearing his Editor hat than he was while writing, or orchestrating each shot and scene. The cinematography is crisp and vibrant, again a credit to the multi-talented filmmaker; that it broadly stands out less doesn't necessarily say as much about Dupieux's capabilities in that regard as it does about how carefully yet joyfully all else had already been arranged such that when it came to actually shooting, all that was left was just to run the camera.

Rounded out with excellent hair, makeup, and costume design, not to mention Thomas Garner's enticing music, I really don't know what more to say except to reaffirm how splendidly well made this is from top to bottom. Overall it looks and sounds as good as we'd hope from most any picture - it just happens to also jump well outside the bounds of what could ever be considered "normal," "typical," or "made for mass consumption." Only if this movie were animated, or awash in CGI, could it plumb depths more askew, for Dupieux has conjured something as tremendously fanciful as it is original, a kooky vision that dashes against its rocks most any semblance of recognizable narrative structure. I couldn't begrudge anyone who engages honestly with the material and finds it not to their liking, for this is definitely not something for everyone. For those who are open to all the wide, wacky possibilities of cinema, however, 'Réalité' is superb, and well worth exploring.