This is my new favorite autobiographical format. For a persona as big and other worldly as Salvadore Dali, no one is better than Quentin Dupieux to relay it. Known for his surrealist film making and very special style, I really was intrigued to see how Quentin Dupieux would fare with an autobiography, especially that of a grand artist like Dali. This movie is very Dali if one might say so: all over the place, highly stylish but with a sure sense of purpose and artistic expression. Multiple actors interpret the eponymous character, actors of different styles ranging from the physical, the tragic to the comedic, a real star studded cast: Gilles Lellouche, Pio marmai, Jonathan Cohen et Edouard Baer. Each single one of them adding nuance and style while staying faithful to the countless live references of Dali's interviews. This is by no means a discovery of Salvadore Dali nor a proper autobiographical film. It is however a celebration of the personna: highly mystical and impossibly entertaining as was the artist. The film is centered around a fictional interview of Dali that never had a chance to materialize, sometimes because of circumstance but mostly due to Dali's eccentricities. This fictional thread is the only anchor to reality in the film, wandering between the corners of the surrealist artists' mind, memories and paintings, an expression of his approach and his art. Quentin Dupieux is on a hot roll after Yannick, and he has been for a while. A wonderful directorial mind that found its style and genre. This movie is the manifestation of how important the medium is to the art: Dali's life could never be resumed in a book or a film, it is a retelling of a unique artistic expression, one that Dupieux has successfully captured through his unique style and ravishing lens without any need for a solid plot or a conventional storytelling.
4 Reviews
Unique and clever
arvid_raa29 January 2024
French, unique and clever movie.
Excellent acting performances across, much in thanks to careful directing.
The movie requires no pre-knowledge about Dali. If you've seen at least one painting, you'll notice the paintings don't seem to fall far from the artist.
Cleverly designed plot, many unexpected and witty twists - a biopic where boring chronologic is replaced by humour. The portrayal of Dali is very enjoyable, every pronounciation seems a carefully thought out way to showcase his excentric (to quote Dali) particuliarities and in some sense also decay towards the latter stages of life.
A very good film, seen at the Göteborg film festival.
Excellent acting performances across, much in thanks to careful directing.
The movie requires no pre-knowledge about Dali. If you've seen at least one painting, you'll notice the paintings don't seem to fall far from the artist.
Cleverly designed plot, many unexpected and witty twists - a biopic where boring chronologic is replaced by humour. The portrayal of Dali is very enjoyable, every pronounciation seems a carefully thought out way to showcase his excentric (to quote Dali) particuliarities and in some sense also decay towards the latter stages of life.
A very good film, seen at the Göteborg film festival.
Hilarious, smart and weird
cascojeronimo10 November 2023
I find probably true that you've never seen a movie like this. This kind of titles feel rare and so fresh that deserves all the atention of worldwide cinephiles.
The plot of the movie doesn't give too much away, and that's because this movie defies expectations until his very end. Weirldy funny and with a meta narrative like you've never seen.
Quentin Dupieux's cinema convinces through the understanding and precise conception of the absurd as the axis in his stories, and Daaaaaali! It is a demonstration of this. But not only for that merit does he emerge victorious, but his films also turn out to be active conversational exercises that dialogue with the viewer about how we absorb what we see on a big screen, and what are the emotions and sensations involved when watching a film. .
Please support this movies.
The plot of the movie doesn't give too much away, and that's because this movie defies expectations until his very end. Weirldy funny and with a meta narrative like you've never seen.
Quentin Dupieux's cinema convinces through the understanding and precise conception of the absurd as the axis in his stories, and Daaaaaali! It is a demonstration of this. But not only for that merit does he emerge victorious, but his films also turn out to be active conversational exercises that dialogue with the viewer about how we absorb what we see on a big screen, and what are the emotions and sensations involved when watching a film. .
Please support this movies.
Precisely what I expect from this filmmaker: chronology in a story is boring. Better replace it with ample humor and confusion. Does it show the real Salvador Dahli??
JvH4814 March 2024
Saw this at the Rotterdam film festival (IFFR) 2024. I was glad to watch the newest movie of this filmmaker and find it deserving the maximum 10/10 score. Following him since Rubber (2010) which I admired greatly, I found subsequent movies suiting me less and less. That is... until today. So very happy to find him again back on track.
Dahli's basic attitude seems very well visualized (I hear from others; I know nothing of Dali). Ditto his obsession with age and his looks. We see a small painting from someone else, signed by him and being sold for 10M on an auction, demonstrating how much his signature is worth, and that its perceived value has nothing to do with the quality of the painting itself.
Nice running gag with the young journalist chasing him repeatedly for an interview, failing each time but getting a fresh chance again and again. The time paradoxes around the dream told by the priest, are a nice find too, also serving as sort of a running gag with many variations, surprising and confusing us repeatedly during the story, until and within the final credits.
All in all, chronology in filmmaking is boring; humor and confusion come instead. I scored a maximum 5 out of 5 for the audience award after the screening. And finally, a friendly advice: stay put and don't run away when the credits start rolling.
Dahli's basic attitude seems very well visualized (I hear from others; I know nothing of Dali). Ditto his obsession with age and his looks. We see a small painting from someone else, signed by him and being sold for 10M on an auction, demonstrating how much his signature is worth, and that its perceived value has nothing to do with the quality of the painting itself.
Nice running gag with the young journalist chasing him repeatedly for an interview, failing each time but getting a fresh chance again and again. The time paradoxes around the dream told by the priest, are a nice find too, also serving as sort of a running gag with many variations, surprising and confusing us repeatedly during the story, until and within the final credits.
All in all, chronology in filmmaking is boring; humor and confusion come instead. I scored a maximum 5 out of 5 for the audience award after the screening. And finally, a friendly advice: stay put and don't run away when the credits start rolling.
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