The Piano Accident on Canal Plus: a cruel and misanthropic comedy (review)

Adèle Exarchopoulos is crazy as an Internet star entangled in a dirty affair. Quentin Dupieux’s most “Westlundian” film.

Released last summer in cinemas, The Piano Accident once again won over Quentin Dupieux’s audiences, bringing together nearly 400,000 spectators in theaters. While the first image of his new project, Full Phill, shot in English with Kristen Stewart and Woody Harrelson, was unveiled at the beginning of the month, this zany comedy led by Adèle Exarchopoulos arrives this Tuesday evening on Canal Plus, and in streaming on MyCanal.

A catchy pitch, an irresistible first quarter of an hour, brilliant actors… and then the machine which seizes up and gives the sensation of pulling the line. The Piano Accident ticks all the boxes of Dupieux’s cinematic DNA. But a rather exciting Dupieux as he emerges at a time when, after having aroused almost unanimous enthusiasm from critics for years, discordant voices were heard during his previous film, The Second Act, presented at the opening of Cannes.

Unaccustomed, we felt him annoyed, including against Première who, however, had defended him but without doubt having committed the crime of lèse-majesté of not having sufficiently praised him. Perhaps he will still be angry with us for saying that The Piano Accident is the best of the four films he has just devoted to the question of celebrity after Yannick, Daaaaaali! and this Second Act. And yet, we think so.

Firstly, thanks to Adèle Exarchopoulos and her insane composition of the central character of the film: an Internet star insensitive to pain whose spectacular videos attract millions of views and who finds himself the target of blackmail after an accident on set. Already well perched in Mandibles, here she explodes all the meters with disconcerting ease.

As for Dupieux, by saving almost none of his characters – your choice: selfish, spineless, stupid… – he signs his most openly misanthropic film. A cruel comedy in the style of Ruben Östlund which gives a thumbs up to its era but without ever seeming reactive. Anything but simple.

By Quentin Dupieux. With Adèle Exarchopoulos, Jérôme Commandeur, Karim Leklou… Duration 1h28.