Deerskin – Le buckskin (2019)

Directed by: Quentin Dupieux | 77 minutes | comedy | Actors: Jean Dujardin, Adèle Haenel, Albert Delpy, Coralie Russier, Laurent Nicolas, Marie Bunel, Pierre Gommé, Caroline Piette, Stéphane Jobert, Géraldine Schitter, Panayotis Pascot, Youssef Hajdi, Simon Thomas, Tom Hudson, Maryne Cayon

The name Quentin Dupieux may not immediately tell you anything, but if you know that he is the man behind Mr. Oh, then maybe a bell will ring. At the turn of the century, he attracted attention with a yellow rag doll named Flat Eric, who not only stole the show in a jeans brand commercial that allowed him to bounce to the beat in a pickup truck, but also hit the charts. stormed with the electro-dance song ‘Flat Beat’. The song itself wasn’t much and got boring quickly because of the repetitive walk, but thanks to Flat Eric the video clip was very nice to watch. Dupieux continued to make music afterwards, but the successes were mainly limited to his home country France. After a while he shifted his focus to film. In 2010 his absurdist horror film ‘Rubber’ was released, about a rubber band that turns into a serial killer. ‘Wrong’ (2012) is about a man who sees the world slightly differently from others and in ‘Reality’ (2014) an aspiring filmmaker has to search for the most realistic scream of pain to get a producer to make money in his to put a movie. Dupieux’ films are often surrealistic and have a melancholy sense of humour. The same goes for ‘Deerskin’ (‘Le daim’) from 2019, in which he managed to win the lead role of none other than Oscar winner Jean Dujardin (‘The Artist’, 2011).

George (Jean Dujardin) is at odds with his wife. But that doesn’t seem to bother him. He found his dream coat on the French Marketplace, looted his savings account and now crosses the whole country to pick up the brown, one hundred percent deerskin jewel. He deposits seven thousand euros with the seller (Albert Delpy, father of actress Julie Delpy). From now on he is broke, but because he falls in love with the jacket instantly, he takes it for granted. Actually, the jacket is not made for him at all – it is too short, is too tight and has a hideous fit! – but George is very happy. He even talks to the thing when it hangs around the chair in his dingy hotel room. Since the salesman was so happy with the amount of money George had left for the jacket, he gave it an analog video camera as a gift. George initially has no idea what to do with it, but he soon decides to shoot the jacket, and himself wearing the jacket. In a cafe he tells bar employee Denise (Adèle Haenel, who earlier this year already starred in ‘Portrait de la jeune fille en feu’) when asked that he is a filmmaker and is in the alpine village shooting a film. Denise offers to help him – she edits film footage on an amateur basis – and together they come up with a plot. George wants to be the only person in the world who can wear a coat, and his coat tells him that he dreams of being the only coat in the world that can be worn. George’s deerskin outfit is completed with a matching hat, trousers and gloves. The more deerskin he wears, the more insane he seems to get at carrying out his plans.

Jean Dujardin is a stubborn man. Many had left for Hollywood after winning an Oscar, but the Frenchman stayed close to home. Of course he did some films in the US (‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ in 2013 and ‘The Monuments Men’ in 2014), but otherwise he worked exclusively with French filmmakers. Not because the Americans (or Brits) don’t want him, but because he likes to determine his own roles, and the interpretation thereof. An attitude that is commendable, because that way he stays close to himself. In France, the charming Dujardin is known as a comedic actor, who gained fame with characters such as Brice de Nice, a stupid wannabe surfer (from Nice) with long, peroxide blond hair in a wet look. George from ‘Deerskin’ is a completely different character, but with his idiosyncrasies it fits well into Dujardin’s oeuvre. Story-wise, the film with its wafer-thin plot is not that much. Instead, ‘Deerskin’ in its entirety relies on the actors, the characters, the humor and the surreal events. A man talking with his jacket; on paper it doesn’t sound like very exciting cinema, but because it’s Dujardin we continue to watch with interest. Dupieux treats us to a handful of small highlights: the scene in which George tries to get his ring from a dead hotel employee, for example, or Denise who gives her very own take on ‘Pulp Fiction’ (1994). And what turns out to be possible with the blades of an old fan, George shows us here in a terrifying way.

The dividing line between innocent fun and crazy outbursts turns out to be paper thin. What’s so special about that ugly cowboy coat? Why is George so lost in that? We hardly get any backstory, we only know that he no longer exists for his wife and that he no longer has any money in his account since the purchase of his new coat. In an absurdist film like this one, which goes through smoothly at 77 minutes, it doesn’t really matter that we don’t get to know the characters personally. George doesn’t seem to be himself when he’s wearing his jacket. He bluffs through everything and is under the impression that the deerskin garment makes him a very gentleman. He should have known! Dupieux made his most accessible film to date with ‘Deerskin’, in which he can rub his hands with top actors Dujardin and Haenel, a wonderful soundtrack, the oppressive setting in the mountains and the possibility to take the irony to a meta level.