Films So Good

On a theoretical level, when Jean Durjardin and Adèle Haenel star in the same movie, the movie could be a major box-office success, at least in France. The truth is that Deerskin, written and directed by Quentin Dupieux, was a quite unoticed movie, since it was mainly part of some international festival including the Directors’ Fortnight section of Cannes Film Festival. However, the first impression I had, watching the trailer, it was that the movie could be an all-time cult horror/comedy movie. Luckily, my expectations were meet.

Plot

Georges, a middle age man (Jean Durjardin) makes a journey, buying a great jacket from deerskin from an old man. As he pays 7,500€ for the jacket, the old man gives him a camcorder as a gift. The man starts falling head-over-heels in love with his suede jacket. It becomes his obsession and he starts shooting a film dedicated to it- a film that proves that his jacket is the only one that should be worn. As he has no money left, he fools Denise, the local pub’s waitress (Adèle Haene) to financially support his film. She not only gives him money, but she also helps him editing his film. However, his obsession gets stronger, waking up his killing instict.

Deerskin isn’t a great movie, but its originality makes it a very descent one. Jean Durjardin proves once again that he can play everything he wants; from romantic comedy (“Le retour du héros”) to heavy drama (“J’ Accuse”) and from parody (“OSS 117” movies) and softer drama (“The Artist”) to this strange horror/comedy role. Adèle Haenel is also good, but her role is quite supportive, since the movie totally focuses to the George’s obsession. Directing looks poor, but its simplicity totally embraces the plot of the movie. You don’t need any special effects, just a semi-horror atmosphere along with a little blood! Finally, Deerskin lasts only 77 minutes, so there will be no time loss for someone to watch it.

Movie Rating: 68/100