Yannick
In a sparsely attended Parisian theater, a play is interrupted by an audience member who’s had enough. But Yannick is no ordinary heckler—convinced he could do better, he vaults onstage and tries to fix the show. Yannick may be correct that the play stinks, but it quickly becomes apparent that he’s hilariously wrong about everything else, tossing off nonsensical suggestions to the bewildered cast, who have no choice but to comply once their hijacker pulls out a pistol. Raphaël Quenard gives an utterly inspired performance as the bonehead provocateur, exuding doofus charisma no matter how far he gets in over his head. In his rapid-fire run of seven films over the last five years, Quentin Dupieux has become cinema’s leading absurdist, dashing off screwball delights like Deerskin (WFF 2020) and Incredible But True (UW Cinematheque 2022), all of which he directed, wrote, shot, and edited himself. (This film’s music, however, consists of vintage tracks by Ethiopian pianist Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou). With Yannick, Dupieux somehow manages to have it both ways, providing catharsis for anyone who’s ever suppressed the urge to boo a pretentious performance—and at the same time, vindication for anyone who’s ever been forced to placate an unsatisfied customer who has absolutely no idea what they’re talking about. Just don’t take any cues from Yannick at our screenings. (MK)
Presented with support from UW-Madison Department of French and Italian