{"id":26262,"date":"2024-10-05T14:59:14","date_gmt":"2024-10-05T18:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=26262"},"modified":"2024-10-07T02:24:25","modified_gmt":"2024-10-07T06:24:25","slug":"daaaaaali-a-surreal-film-about-a-surrealist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=26262","title":{"rendered":"‘Daaaaaal\u00ed!’\u00a0A Surreal Film About A Surrealist"},"content":{"rendered":"

If Mary Harron\u2019s 2022 Dal\u00edland<\/span><\/a> \u2014 starring Ben Kingsley \u2014 took a biographical twist, Quentin Dupieux prefers to embark upon an exercise of style, since his latest work is not<\/span> a biopic about Salvador Dal\u00ed. The French filmmaker\u2019s moving picture \u2014 that premiered Out of Competition at the 80<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> Venice International Film Festival \u2014 is a cinematic<\/span> Matryoshka. Daaaaaal\u00ed!\u00a0<\/i><\/b>is a filmic divertissement<\/i> of Chinese boxes, where events intertwine with dreams and the thin line between what is real and what is imagined gets blurrier by the minute.<\/span><\/p>\n

The actual protagonist is former-pharmacist-now-turned-journalis<\/span>t Judith Rochant (Ana\u00efs Demoustier), who is assigned to interview renowned artist Salvador Dal\u00ed. But the surrealist painter disdains the print media and would rather be interviewed on camera. Thus, Judith embarks upon the mission of making a documentary portrait of Dal\u00ed, with the help of her producer J\u00e9r\u00f4me (Romain Duris). During this challenging plight Judith confronts the many facets of Dal\u00ed\u2019s ego. Hence, it doesn\u2019t surprise to see the surrealist artist played by five actors: Edouard Baer, Jonathan Cohen, Giles Lellouche, Pio Marma\u00ef, and Didier Flamand. If this weren\u2019t enough, there\u2019s an amusing supper scene \u00e0 la Luis Bu\u00f1uel\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>\u2014 that follows its own illogic flow \u2014 where Dal\u00ed and his wife Gala (Catherine Schaub-Abkarian) converse with their friend Georges (Laurent Nicolas) and a priest, P\u00e8re Jacques (\u00c9ric Naggar), who describes a recurring dream with several variations.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/ins>\n

Daaaaaal\u00ed! <\/i><\/b>is about the metamorphosis of life and its creative forms and, above all, it genuinely enjoys mocking its audience. The picture also exposes the sense of failure that pervades all human beings, who question themselves whether they are up to the task they\u2019ve set themselves and have to come to terms with the relativity of events.<\/span> Judith’s numerous attempts to interview the extravagant sacred monster of Surrealism, lay bare his prismatic nature. After all, as D<\/span>al\u00ed himself once said, his personality was probably his greatest masterpiece. Daaaaaal\u00ed!<\/i><\/b>\u00a0investigates this cosmic consciousness in a flamboyantly freewheeling manner.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Daaaali!\u00a0Even though the film is not a faithful depiction of the artist\u2019s life it does claim the will to do justice to his work. There are several references to his paintings, such as a skull on a donkey’s head, a landscape, a signature. Most importantly, the movie <\/span>opens with a shot that reproduces the artist’s Necrophilic Fountain<\/i>. Usually pop culture associates Dal\u00ed with his melted clocks. <\/span>Dupieux\u2019s choice of beginning the visual journey with a piano, being traversed by water and a tree, sets the mood for an unexpected journey into the exploration of Salvador Dal\u00ed\u2019s lesser known world. It is also an ingenious way to coalesce the two creative fields of cinema and painting. And exactly as Dupieux said \u201cFrom here, you’re in for a ride. A Dal\u00ed roller coaster.<\/i>\u201d Indeed\u2026it is quite the trip!<\/span><\/p>\n

The greatest men in literature have ventured into the distinction between reality and dreams, by using their words. Edgar Allan Poe\u2019s poem A Dream Within A Dream<\/i> pondered upon the flightiness of life; whilst William Shakespeare\u2019s character of Hamlet in his famous soliloquy To Be Or Not To Be<\/i>, expressed the same disquietude when he pronounced the words \u201cTo die, to sleep \u2013 to sleep, perchance to dream \u2013 ay, there’s the rub, for in this sleep of death what dreams may come. When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause\u2014there\u2019s the respect, That makes calamity of so long life.<\/i><\/span>\u201d Salvador Dal\u00ed tackled the same existential issues \u2014 including the <\/span>haunting shadow of death \u2014<\/span> using his paintbrush, and the same can be said of <\/span>Quentin Dupieux who does so with his camera.<\/span><\/p>\n

This surrealistic comedy, about vanity and art, is structured like a scavenger hunt that continuously gets stuck in a loop, just like the amour propre<\/i> of its capricious protagonist\u2026epitomised by the many \u2018A\u2019s in the film\u2019s title. The eccentric tableau vivant<\/i> is aggrandised by the music score of former Daft Punk member,\u00a0 <\/span>Thomas Bangalter.<\/span><\/p>\n

Daaaaaal\u00ed!<\/i><\/b>\u00a0 yearns to be utterly disorientating and succeeds in its intention, as <\/span>Quentin Dupieux makes a surreal film about a surrealist.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Daaaali<\/p>\n

Final Grade: B<\/span><\/p>\n

Check out more of Chiara\u2019s articles<\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Photos are courtesy of Music Box Films<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n