Deerskin

[StevePulaski]

Deerskin (2020)
Directed by: Quentin Dupieux

Jean Dujardin in Deerskin.

Rating: ★★½

I've never seen a filmmaker so consistently close to achieving greatness yet simultaneously so far as Quentin "No Reason" Dupieux." His style should be a breeding ground for black comedy, and his constant resistance to subscribe to narrative convention is what has kept me coming back ever since I curiously put on his breakout film Rubber, about a sentient killer-tire, one sleepy Sunday afternoon many moons ago. I firmly believe he has a budding masterpiece inside of him wrestling to come to fruition. Now three films later, I'm still waiting for it.

His latest, Deerskin, starring Oscar winner Jean Dujardin who has been mostly invisible to American audiences since the success of The Artist, suffers from the similar pitfalls as his previous features, Wrong and Wrong Cops. Too often are there long stretches of nothingness that produce only shrugs. Dupieux's storyline appears to resist the underlying humor a picture this quirky should effortlessly gravitate towards. A fine leading performance and some telling observations aside, absurdism of this caliber should be a lot more fun to watch as opposed to endure. Like all of Dupieux's features, however, it's kept inoffensively short at 77 minutes.

Dujardin snakes into the role of Georges, who we spend about three minutes with before we realize there's something off about him. His eyes rarely stop shifting. His motivations are bizarre, and him stuffing a jacket into a truck-stop toilet and flushing it so the entire apparatus clogs is just the tip of the iceberg. He exudes a frightened, nervous energy you're used to finding in sociopaths or those who are socially inept. What sends Georges into a hyper-motivated frenzy is the purchase of a vintage deerskin jacket, another sentient inanimate object around which Dupieux layers the film. When the shopowner who sells him the jacket throws in a video-camera with his purchase, Georges becomes consumed with making a film about people vowing never to wear a jacket again. He wanders through a sleepy French community, tantalizing people with money to "star" in this picture, shooting brief scenes of them putting their jackets into the trunk of his car, and then driving off with them confused and jacket-less. His project is funded by a kind server and aspiring film editor named Denise (Adèle Haenel, Portrait of a Lady on Fire), whose credentials include re-editing Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction so the film is in chronological order. She confirms to Georges early on that the chronological cut is indeed terrible, which would surprise no one. Would Christopher Nolan's Memento be a third as compelling if it were a linear film?

What evidently drives Georges is the perceived superiority and status he feels wash over him when he dons his deerskin jacket. Armed with a unique outfit, a weathered look that suggests he's experienced at something, and a video-camera, there's a certain trust he gains from young people who have no particular reason to trust him nor his intentions. Dupieux is subtle in cluing us into the jacket's autonomous motivations, but still, any overarching significance is left floating in the tumbleweeds of this rural locale.

Dujardin has a handsome brand of charisma that makes me wish he had a more prominent career. Here, he amalgamates a likable blend of suave confidence when left to his own devices while resorting to being a fumbling fool when challenged about his ideas. Haenel's shortcomings in contrast are more of a fault with the writing, which renders Denise a subdued presence that shafts her ability to transcend into anything more than a yes-woman who is coerced into going along with Georges' peculiar plan. Furthermore, the two lack the dynamic chemistry that would've made the loose ends of Deerskin more forgivable.

Due to Dupieux's infamous "no reason" justification when questioned about the motivations of his films or the ideas behind them, you can never be sure you're on-base when analyzing his works. Deerskin does indeed softly examine the perils of a man entering the midlife crisis phase of his life. Rather than buy a palatial estate in the French countryside or an impractical sports car, Georges finds purpose after acquiring a deerskin jacket. However, his sinister self-centeredness compels him to be the only one with a jacket, a move that quickly goes beyond the idea of personal gain. It also leads to the ending going off like a wet firecracker as opposed to the riotously funny bang in which it could've. Like most Dupieux features, Deerskin is on the cusp of being revelatory but instead settles for weirdness, some of which mildly amusing but mostly of the disaffecting kind.

NOTE: Deerskin is available via The Loft Cinema's website for a 72-hour rental at a $9.99 price-tag. The proceeds are split 50/50 with the film's distributor, Greenwich Entertainment. I realize these unprecedented times are leaving us all with monetary worries, some more than others of course, but I find it imperative to support independent cinema whenever I can, especially during this bleak period in which we're living. I might not have been glowing in my support for the film, but I'll never regret giving a little to a brand of cinema I never want to see die. You can rent the film here: loftcinema.org/film/deerskin

You can also watch my review of Deerskin on my weekly web-show Sleepless with Steve:

Starring: Jean Dujardin and Adèle Haenel. Directed by: Quentin Dupieux.