Since the debut of “Rubber”, French filmmaker Quentin Dupieux has gained recognition among a growing audience as a wildly inventive and brilliant creator, equally inclined toward absurd humor and surrealism. It was almost inevitable, in a sense, that Dupieux's path would eventually cross with that of a great artist, also brilliant and eccentric, and an embodiment of surrealism—Spanish artist Salvador Dalí.
Despite numerous portrayals in film, from Andy Warhol's short film dedicated to him in 1966 to Mary Harron's “Dalíland” in 2022, Dalí had never found such a precise correspondence between his mannerisms and aesthetic as in Dupieux's “Daaaaaalí!”, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2023 and will soon be released in theaters by Lucky Red. Hilarious and disorienting, Dupieux's film starts with what was supposed to be a fifteen-minute interview between a young and ambitious journalist (Anaïs Demoustier) and Dalí. However, through interruptions, unforeseen events, reshoots, and time jumps, the interview evolves into something expansive and undefinable.
It explores the thought, provocation, art, and ego of the Spanish artist, portrayed by five different actors (Edouard Baer, Jonathan Cohen, Giles Lellouche, Pio Marmaï, and Didier Flamand), who alternate in unpredictable and vertiginous ways. A tribute to Dalí, surrealism, dreamlike states, and freedom of thought and action, “Daaaaaalí!” is an incredibly entertaining and intelligent film. We eagerly await its release in theaters in our country. In the meantime, here is the official trailer, in French with English subtitles.
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