Daaaaaali!

 

 Dali-rama!

Daaaaaali!
Directed by Quentin Dupieux
France Kinology 2023
London Film Festival screening, 14th October 2023

I’ve only seen two other films by Quentin Dupieux, the man who surely should be considered one of France’s great, living surrealists... but both of them, Rubber (reviewed by me here) and Deerskin (reviewed by me here) have been absolutely brilliant. His new film, Daaaaaali! struck me in much the same way. Is it a great movie? Certainly. Is it a genuine masterpiece? Quite possibly, actually.

There’s no spoiler warning at the top here because, in terms of story, it’s kinda hard to spoil a premise which basically is just a starting block on which to pin the movie on... especially when that starting block gets pulled away by the end of the film and comes into question itself. I will, however, be revealing little details of the structure and absurdist spirit of the film so, yeah, if you don’t want to know anything before seeing it then please avoid reading this review.

Okay, so it may be easier to start off telling you what it isn’t. Much like Dali’s own autobiography, The Secret Life Of Salvador Dali, this film is not trying to be a factual portrait of the man. More so, I would say, than even Dali’s often fictionalised account of his life because, this film really doesn’t go down the documentary route at all. In fact, the only real stab at imparting an actual fact in this movie comes, it seems to me, when Gala points out to Dali that the work he is painting is anachronistic to the film... as it was painted in 1972 in real life, as opposed to whenever the film is actually set (and I’m not quite sure when that is, to be honest, which I’m guessing is the intent of Dupieux).

What it is, or purports to be from its earliest moments, is an account of a reporter played by Anaïs Demoustier, who is trying to secure an interview with Dali and every time she gets to meet him, something happens to ensure that interview doesn’t quite happen. Now, here’s the thing... Dali himself is played by several actors... among them Edouard Baer and Jonathan Cohen... and the actors keep switching out in the roles, mostly focusing on a specific three actors which it keeps substituting at different points in the... well... let’s call it ‘narrative’, for want of a more accurate word. And they’re all brilliant in their own way, being comical caricatures of Dali and eschewing the specifics of his life and instead focusing on the spirit of Dali, rather than trying to pin down and capture him with the dry data behind the man. So, it's a homage, if you will.

And yes, the way the film is shot and various incidents which happen, means this comical journey of a movie shares some DNA, at the very least, with the creative mind of Dali himself. But, of course, there’s also a lot more of Dupieux in the film too... so it’s not just a Daliesque piece in and of itself. And, bearing in mind the title character is constantly switching out with other actors, it seems to me an almost conscious reference to one of Dali’s early partners in crime, Luis Buñuel. At least in terms of the films Buñuel was making much later in his career.

Now Dupieux does something magical with the film in terms of the way it is structured, in scenarios which constantly fold back into themselves like a series of Russian Matryoshka dolls. He changes the way time works for the audience by chopping it into bits and forcing the minds of the audience to experience the film at a much slower rate than what it actually is. The film is only an hour and a quarter, after all but... it feels like three hours have elapsed by the time the film is done with you. And in this case, this isn’t a bad thing... the film is never dull and nothing less than entertaining. Indeed, the audience I saw it with were in absolute stitches as soon as they realised this or that thing was happening.

Dali’s first entrance in the movie, for example... and I’m trying to phrase this in a way that doesn’t give away the joke... plays with both time and physical space and it crept up on the audience gradually, until they realised what was happening and then, every time Dupieux cut back to a specific kind of shot, the audience started laughing... a lot. Another moment of strong humour came from the realisation that two actors playing Dali in what must be different times, found themselves... much to each other’s surprise... sharing the same physical location at the same time. Not to mention the fits of laughter everytime a certain cowboy turns up in a shot. And even the composer (who shall remain nameless due to the IMDBs failure to include it in their full cast and crew list), helps the stretching out of time in various places, with its constant repetition used almost as a comic trigger to inform the audience... here we go again.

And I think that’s me just about done with this one. Quentin Dupieux’s Daaaaaali! is an absolutely astonishing film and, judging from the audience I saw it with, a laugh out loud piece of comic writing and timing. All I am saying is that I hope the film finds UK distribution soon because I want to get my hands on the Blu Ray edition of this one as soon as possible, so I can show it to people. So well done the writer/director and, now I guess I have to go back and watch some of the other movies by him that I missed when they first came out. I’ll let you know how that goes.