Deerskin. 2019
Written and Directed by Quentin Dupieux
Starring Jean Dujardin, Adèle Haenel, Albert Delpy, and Pierre Gommé
SYNOPSIS:
A man’s obsession with his designer deerskin jacket causes him to blow his life savings and turn to crime.
An exercise in unabashed bizarreness, Deerskin sees French director Quentin Dupieux getting a committed and straight performance out of Oscar winner Jean Dujardin as an eccentric individual obsessed with his titular jacket. The character also is hilariously high on himself, assuming that a couple of women deep into a conversation at a bar just have to be talking about his “killer style”, a phrase that takes on entirely new meaning as what begins as idiosyncratic humor slowly morphs into serial killer horror.
To Jean Dujardin’s credit, he is certainly a hoot in the role, which frequently sees him using multiple voices to have dialogue exchanges between himself and the deerskin coat. He also wants to be the only person in the world wearing a jacket, which causes him to fake being a filmmaker to coax a young woman into being his editor, which somehow is all just a front for him to go around murdering people and stealing their jackets. Yes, it’s as wild as it sounds, but Quentin Dupieux uses the framing device to comment on the act of filmmaking in ways that don’t really say anything besides sometimes artists themselves have no idea what they are creating and that people are dumb for coming up with their own interpretations as a result. The slow-burn eventually leads to an unsatisfying payoff, with the slim 77-minute running time feeling more like 100 minutes.
It’s an art-house horror flick from a director that thinks you’re stupid for trying to piece together meanings in movies. It’s absurd with characters believing all sorts of stupid things, the string of murders are not creative or clever, and the concept itself quickly becomes repetitive. A few funny sequences here and there can’t save Deerskin, but if by chance you do like Rubber and usually get on the wavelength of Quentin Dupieux, it’s not a complete bust. Jean Dujardin almost saves it; Deerskin just needs one or two more elements going for it to be worthy of a recommendation.
Deerskin screens at the Chicago International Film Festival on October 25th 10:45 PM and October 27th 12:30 PM. Tickets can be purchased here.
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, friend me on Facebook, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, check out my personal non-Flickering Myth affiliated Patreon, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
Originally published October 19, 2019. Updated December 8, 2022.
