Le daim [Deerskin] (Quentin Dupieux, 2019)

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knives
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Re: Le daim [Deerskin] (Quentin Dupieux, 2019)

#26 Post by knives » Mon Jan 06, 2020 12:34 pm

swo17 wrote:
Mon Jan 06, 2020 11:13 am
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The film could've easily followed her in the jacket for another hour, and ended up a nice parallel piece with In Fabric, which is also about multiple owners of a mysteriously alluring piece of apparel
I think I just realized I have a new favorite subgenre
La ronde?

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Slaphappy
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Re: Le daim [Deerskin] (Quentin Dupieux, 2019)

#27 Post by Slaphappy » Mon Jan 06, 2020 1:12 pm

therewillbeblus wrote:
Mon Jan 06, 2020 11:59 am
Slaphappy wrote:
Mon Jan 06, 2020 10:58 am
I love Dupieux’s weirdness because to me it is so character driven, so I hold on to my interpretation. [-( :D
I don't see how they're mutually exclusive (being character-driven and also broad) and I wasn't trying to uproot you from said interpretation just trying to engage in discussion. However, in bringing up Dupieux's tendency toward "character-driven" weirdness, I'm more curious about and open-minded to your reading when looking at the inconsistency of bizarre in his milieu. While someone like Lanthimos may implement a more apparently consistent method across behavior, psychology, and lack of social skills in his bizarro worlds, Dupieux's lack of consistency in character creates an even more absurd world. While we get very little of the eccentricities of characters outside of the two leads, there is the night manager of the hotel, the prostitute, and even the hunter and his son who all present with their own kind of strange. And then there are all the people Jean Dujardin encounter who seem completely normal, though some of them maybe satirized around the lack of self-preservation when blinded by a moment of fame. That's a good point and one that I didn't really think about that creates even more vague possibilities at dissecting the film from a broad focal point or one of more concrete characterization like yours. Not as a replacement reading but as a complementing one, which I think is something this film affords and even welcomes.
No problem, I was trying to say pretty much the same, that we can each have it according to our preferences, but it came out a bit blunt.

I’m not sure I understand all of the points you are making, but here are some thoughts. I have only seen Dogtooth from Lanthimos, and even though I can appriciate his craft with actors, I was not intriqued by his vision or by the story. Maybe it was too blatantly psychological and satirical. Dupieux I find wonderful because he is not afraid to be inconsistent or incoherent if that means being spontanous and imaginative while still keeping the movie together with good characters. I like it when movies are more interested in luring the viewers inside the labyrinth than obsessing about showing the way out to wrap things up.

Have you seen Reality? It’s Dubieux’s most borgesian movie, a really fun and casual excercise in obsession and wildly looping metastuff.

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swo17
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Re: Le daim [Deerskin] (Quentin Dupieux, 2019)

#28 Post by swo17 » Mon Jan 06, 2020 2:02 pm

knives wrote:
Mon Jan 06, 2020 12:34 pm
swo17 wrote:
Mon Jan 06, 2020 11:13 am
SpoilerShow
The film could've easily followed her in the jacket for another hour, and ended up a nice parallel piece with In Fabric, which is also about multiple owners of a mysteriously alluring piece of apparel
I think I just realized I have a new favorite subgenre
La ronde?
I think I meant clothing horror

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therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Le daim [Deerskin] (Quentin Dupieux, 2019)

#29 Post by therewillbeblus » Mon Jan 06, 2020 2:56 pm

Slaphappy wrote:
Mon Jan 06, 2020 1:12 pm
I have only seen Dogtooth from Lanthimos, and even though I can appriciate his craft with actors, I was not intriqued by his vision or by the story. Maybe it was too blatantly psychological and satirical. Dupieux I find wonderful because he is not afraid to be inconsistent or incoherent if that means being spontanous and imaginative while still keeping the movie together with good characters. I like it when movies are more interested in luring the viewers inside the labyrinth than obsessing about showing the way out to wrap things up.

Have you seen Reality? It’s Dubieux’s most borgesian movie, a really fun and casual excercise in obsession and wildly looping metastuff.
I'm thinking more of something like Killing of a Sacred Deer or The Lobster, where I think Lanthimos breathes more easily having fun with his worlds although he definitely has more of an urgency and calculated purpose in the story that drives the narrative by comparison. Even aside from these imaginative and creative details though, there is a consistency of profile in his characters' eccentric behaviors (obviously with some personality differences) as well as similarly hiveminded mentalities (which is also a theme throughout his work) that is a bit more grounded in a way and not exactly what we are getting with Dupieux, but they work for different reasons. The comparison was really to represent the differences of modern presentations of the absurd.

I haven't seen Reality but I'm going to pick up the one blu-ray copy from my library network today -thanks for the rec!

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zedz
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Re: Le daim [Deerskin] (Quentin Dupieux, 2019)

#30 Post by zedz » Mon Jan 06, 2020 7:40 pm

swo17 wrote:
Mon Jan 06, 2020 2:02 pm
knives wrote:
Mon Jan 06, 2020 12:34 pm
swo17 wrote:
Mon Jan 06, 2020 11:13 am
SpoilerShow
The film could've easily followed her in the jacket for another hour, and ended up a nice parallel piece with In Fabric, which is also about multiple owners of a mysteriously alluring piece of apparel
I think I just realized I have a new favorite subgenre
La ronde?
I think I meant clothing horror
That's something I don't need to leave the comfort of my wardrobe to experience.

Yes, my wardrobe is very cozy, and no, you can't come in.

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domino harvey
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Re: Le daim [Deerskin] (Quentin Dupieux, 2019)

#31 Post by domino harvey » Mon Jan 06, 2020 7:48 pm

How are your lion and witch, though?

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DarkImbecile
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Re: Le daim [Deerskin] (Quentin Dupieux, 2019)

#32 Post by DarkImbecile » Mon Jan 06, 2020 7:52 pm

Booooo

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zedz
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Re: Le daim [Deerskin] (Quentin Dupieux, 2019)

#33 Post by zedz » Mon Jan 06, 2020 8:00 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Mon Jan 06, 2020 7:48 pm
How are your lion and witch, though?
Narnia business.

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Slaphappy
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Re: Le daim [Deerskin] (Quentin Dupieux, 2019)

#34 Post by Slaphappy » Tue Jan 07, 2020 6:50 am

therewillbeblus wrote:
Mon Jan 06, 2020 2:56 pm
I'm thinking more of something like Killing of a Sacred Deer or The Lobster, where I think Lanthimos breathes more easily having fun with his worlds although he definitely has more of an urgency and calculated purpose in the story that drives the narrative by comparison. Even aside from these imaginative and creative details though, there is a consistency of profile in his characters' eccentric behaviors (obviously with some personality differences) as well as similarly hiveminded mentalities (which is also a theme throughout his work) that is a bit more grounded in a way and not exactly what we are getting with Dupieux, but they work for different reasons. The comparison was really to represent the differences of modern presentations of the absurd.

I haven't seen Reality but I'm going to pick up the one blu-ray copy from my library network today -thanks for the rec!
Sounds good! I’ve been meaning to watch The Favourite and backtrack from there. Maybe I’ll get back to you someday on the subject. Btw, I noticed that Dupieux’s two first movies (and the fabulous Wrong Cops too) are on YouTube.

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Slaphappy
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Re: Le daim [Deerskin] (Quentin Dupieux, 2019)

#35 Post by Slaphappy » Wed Jan 08, 2020 4:51 am

therewillbeblus wrote:
Mon Jan 06, 2020 2:56 pm
I'm thinking more of something like Killing of a Sacred Deer or The Lobster, where I think Lanthimos breathes more easily having fun with his worlds although he definitely has more of an urgency and calculated purpose in the story that drives the narrative by comparison. Even aside from these imaginative and creative details though, there is a consistency of profile in his characters' eccentric behaviors (obviously with some personality differences) as well as similarly hiveminded mentalities (which is also a theme throughout his work) that is a bit more grounded in a way and not exactly what we are getting with Dupieux, but they work for different reasons. The comparison was really to represent the differences of modern presentations of the absurd.
I had a look at Killing of a Sacred Deer to get the contrast. So about the presentations of absurd, I do think Dupieux’s incoherent approach works well and it’s is not limited to characters. Deerskin is first movie I’ve seen from him that does not look completely like it’s made by a diletant, but it still has outsider art appeal. I’m not saying Dupieux is a genius, but he does have in common with Borges that neither seems to stress too much about what a proper movie/novel should look like and that naturally goes well with absurdity.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Le daim [Deerskin] (Quentin Dupieux, 2019)

#36 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed Jan 08, 2020 11:42 am

I agree with that assessment, and having seen Reality second your thoughts there as well. There are some great satirical expositions but the ensuing narrative labyrinths reach nonsensical in ways that can only be met with a shrug toward absurdist acceptance rather than meticulous analysis. I loved it.

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Slaphappy
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Re: Le daim [Deerskin] (Quentin Dupieux, 2019)

#37 Post by Slaphappy » Thu Jan 09, 2020 4:20 am

True! I think satire is hard genre because it can get too obvious really easy. Maybe Dupieux’s absurdism is just the thing to balance it. I love it how enthusiastic the main character is in Reality about coming up the right groan. He’s embracing the absurd demands of his producer instead of fighting them.

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zedz
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Re: Le daim [Deerskin] (Quentin Dupieux, 2019)

#38 Post by zedz » Thu Jan 09, 2020 4:07 pm

I think Deerskin works as satire because its premise is so off the wall that the satire becomes kind of nebulous. There's no direct, obvious, one-to-one correlation between the antics of the film and a real-life analogue, so the critique becomes free-form, easily personalized by the viewer, and ultimately more about human behaviour in general. The other strength of the film is that, once it establishes its ridiculous premise, it follows through on it with an internal logic. It doesn't even really dip into surrealism or dream logic: the grotesqueness is just sort of squalid and ordinary.

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Slaphappy
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Re: Le daim [Deerskin] (Quentin Dupieux, 2019)

#39 Post by Slaphappy » Sat Jan 11, 2020 7:41 am

Good points! I watched Dupieux’s debut feature Steak. He’s become way better since at making his ideas both more hazy and more focused at the same time. In Reality and Deerskin he does a wonderful job at presenting the theme through by immersing the viewer into the mindset of the central character. It’s been years since I saw Wrong Cops, but in it the theme comes out pretty late and very surprisingly after the viewer has been sucked into the absurd world.

mkochsch
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Re: Le daim [Deerskin] (Quentin Dupieux, 2019)

#40 Post by mkochsch » Mon Feb 03, 2020 5:32 pm

My response after viewing the second time was that this film worked on the surface as theatre of the absurd but deeper down at the level of an allegory. One should take it viewed through the lens of the film-maker's relationship to their art and how the art changed towards degradation and violence once money became involved.
Ultimately the filmmaker would have to answer to the powers who controlled the chequebook if he was going to make his film. People in the "sane" world (his wife) wanted nothing to do with him.
On another level, the main character slowly
SpoilerShow
metamorphosed into a deer piece by piece every time another layer of deerskin was added to the wardrobe, a man slowly transformed into nature. The main character represents humankind's brutal assault on the earth. He steals, he litters, he lies, defiles a corpse, he commits the ultimate heinous act of multiple murders with impunity because he is an "alpha" a human and above the law. The stealing of jackets (skinning of animals) was the ego trip of society saying we are exclusive we are above all creatures. The main character was literally "skinning" his victims to feed his narcissistic or fetishistic hunger. The irony is that by indulging in his desires unbridled he loses himself eventually and becomes his obsession, a deer, in the end, screaming "shoot me! shoot me!" and thus is treated as a deer by the hunter in the final scene. He is slaughtered and then skinned
by his equally obsessed co-conspirator.
The jacket was a better fit for her anyway.

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lzx
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Re: Le daim [Deerskin] (Quentin Dupieux, 2019)

#41 Post by lzx » Fri Feb 14, 2020 3:16 am


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tenia
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Re: Le daim [Deerskin] (Quentin Dupieux, 2019)

#42 Post by tenia » Fri Feb 14, 2020 4:14 am

Pretty neat poster.

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soundchaser
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Re: Le daim [Deerskin] (Quentin Dupieux, 2019)

#43 Post by soundchaser » Sun Mar 01, 2020 12:34 am

Saw this tonight and pretty much loved it, although many I was with walked out about halfway through. I do think the subtitles missed a trick, though: in reference to mkochsch’s post above...
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Georges’s final cry was translated literally as “film me! Film me!,” which made me miss the “shoot” pun completely until I read through this thread. It definitely helps make more sense of the ending.

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domino harvey
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Re: Le daim [Deerskin] (Quentin Dupieux, 2019)

#44 Post by domino harvey » Wed Apr 29, 2020 10:03 pm

This is available to rent online from my local theatre and probably yours too, for those who haven’t seen it yet (and you can go to AFI Silver or Alamo’s site if there’s no local option for you)

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Murdoch
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Re: Le daim [Deerskin] (Quentin Dupieux, 2019)

#45 Post by Murdoch » Thu Apr 30, 2020 1:38 pm

Thanks for pointing that out, Dom. Just checked and my local venue has it available this Saturday :)


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Never Cursed
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Re: Le daim [Deerskin] (Quentin Dupieux, 2019)

#47 Post by Never Cursed » Sat May 02, 2020 5:57 pm

I like the idea that my shitty local 5-screen theater somehow would've played this under normal circumstances

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Re: Le daim [Deerskin] (Quentin Dupieux, 2019)

#48 Post by yoshimori » Thu Jul 09, 2020 2:57 am

Somehow last week's US release was DVD-only. Jeesh.

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swo17
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Re: Le daim [Deerskin] (Quentin Dupieux, 2019)

#49 Post by swo17 » Thu Jul 09, 2020 11:39 am

Sigh. And it looks like the French BD doesn't have English subtitles

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swo17
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Re: Le daim [Deerskin] (Quentin Dupieux, 2019)

#50 Post by swo17 » Sat Jan 16, 2021 1:30 pm

I just noticed that Umbrella put out an English-subtitled Blu-ray of this film in Australia!

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