The opening sequence already puts the viewer in context. On an arid land surrounded by mountains, a piano on which a cedar sits has a hole, from which a fountain of water flows into a small pool. This image — a representation of a little-known painting by Dalí, Necrophilic fountain flowing from a grand piano (1930) — reminds us to suspend, for 77 minutes, our reflexes of reason and credulity.
In Daaaaaalí!the prolific Quentin Dupieux pays an anachronistic homage to the master of surrealism, constructing a singular, playful and psychedelic world in the image of his subject.
Staying away from the classic codes of the biographical film – what else can we expect from the most irreverent of French filmmakers? — Quentin Dupieux focuses his gaze on the exuberance and strangeness of his character, more than on his work, his heritage and his creative process. Didn’t Dalí himself say that his personality was his greatest masterpiece?
Thus, five different actors — Gilles Lellouche, Jonathan Cohen, Pio Marmaï, Didier Flamand and Édouard Baer — take turns embodying a distinct version of the artist in a completely random order and chronology, except for the raised mustaches, the royal bearing , the extravagant shirts and the exaggeratedly rrrrolled Rs that run through the performances.
The result, enigmatic, fabulous, completely destabilizing, does not just pay homage to Salvador Dalí. He also borrows from another eminent 20th century surrealiste century — Luis Buñuel — by sketching a dramatic structure which is reminiscent of that of the film The discreet charm of the bourgeoisie (1972).
Rather than a group of individuals who never manage to sit down at the table because of surrealist diversions, the director here stages an interview between Dalí and a journalist which almost never comes to fruition.
We first meet the artist in an endless hotel corridor, which he walks for what seems like an eternity, as he prepares to sit down with Judith, a pharmacist turned journalist. However, when he learns that their interview will not be filmed, he refuses to participate and turns on his heel. Judith, thanks to the support of a misogynistic and tyrannical producer – we recognize here the filmmaker’s tendency to make relevant comments on the flaws of the film industry -, will then offer to reshoot the whole thing with the biggest camera in the world. world ; a business that will also fail, and so on…
A film about Dalí could be criticized for leaving aside his artistic work. However, to imagine his absurd story, which also includes the cyclical dream of a priest who shoots a cowboy point-blank in all kinds of contexts, Quentin Dupieux draws extensively on certain recurring themes in the painter’s work. For example, he explores its complex relationship with the passage and rigidity of time – as highlighted in his famous painting The persistence of Memorybetter known under the title Soft watchesas well as with the concepts of rebirth and inner lives.
From a visual point of view, the film is also in perfect harmony with an offbeat universe full of imperceptible details, which we take pleasure in spotting. Not classic then, but highly satisfying.