I suppose it's fair to call this a black comedy, but I have to be honest, I didn't laugh once. I was for all intents and purposes, dumbstruck by the sheer absurdity of it all. Having purchased a second hand, fringed deerskin jacket at an exorbitant price, Georges (Jean Dujardin) becomes completely mesmerized by it's 'killer style' and proceeds to reinvent himself after phoning his ex-wife and finding out, in her words, he no longer exists. Almost from the outset, Georges has conversations with his new jacket which in his delirium fevered mind goes both ways. Having received an outmoded video recorder as a bonus from the same man he bought the coat from, Georges begins to fancy himself a filmmaker, and enlists a lonely young woman (Adèle Haenel) with aspirations of becoming a film editor to join him in his movie making adventure. It's not too long into the film that one realizes Georges is an absolute, sociopathic cad, who's willing to lie, cheat and steal to further his cause. Over the course of the story, he adds to his deerskin ensemble with a hat, boots, pants and gloves, while having made a deal with his deerskin that he alone, of all the people on the planet, is worthy of wearing any kind of jacket at all. There follows a deadly turn by the novice film maker, as the movie careens down a long and sinister path that leaves corpses in its wake.
If one is expecting any kind of credibility to the story, you may as well not be bothered. It will occur very quickly to the attentive viewer that as the bodies in this tiny French alpine village begin to pile up, none of them manage to be discovered, even though they're in plain view, some having occurred in broad daylight. Quite cleverly, whether intentional or not, director and cinematographer Quentin Dupieux successfully creates a movie here that almost looks like it was made with Georges hand held camera, particularly in those scenes in which Georges is filming. Transfixed by her editing duties, Denise (Haenel) assumes Georges role at the end of the picture when he falls victim to his own sadistic pursuits.
Safe to say this won't be a picture for everyone. What starts out as a fairly interesting premise devolves into surrealism on a grand scale from the moment Georges puts on his treasured deerskin jacket. Admiring himself ad nauseum, and tempting bystanders to comment on his taste in fashion, I myself was quite puzzled by the fact that Georges didn't even realize that the jacket was about a size too small for him! Fortunately, it was just the right fit for Denise.
If one is expecting any kind of credibility to the story, you may as well not be bothered. It will occur very quickly to the attentive viewer that as the bodies in this tiny French alpine village begin to pile up, none of them manage to be discovered, even though they're in plain view, some having occurred in broad daylight. Quite cleverly, whether intentional or not, director and cinematographer Quentin Dupieux successfully creates a movie here that almost looks like it was made with Georges hand held camera, particularly in those scenes in which Georges is filming. Transfixed by her editing duties, Denise (Haenel) assumes Georges role at the end of the picture when he falls victim to his own sadistic pursuits.
Safe to say this won't be a picture for everyone. What starts out as a fairly interesting premise devolves into surrealism on a grand scale from the moment Georges puts on his treasured deerskin jacket. Admiring himself ad nauseum, and tempting bystanders to comment on his taste in fashion, I myself was quite puzzled by the fact that Georges didn't even realize that the jacket was about a size too small for him! Fortunately, it was just the right fit for Denise.