Quentin Dupieux’s (Rubber, Deerskin) bizzare comedy ‘Daaaaaalí’ tells the story of a journalist’s struggle to interview renowned Spanish artist Salvador Dalí. The surrealist comedy world premiered at the 80th edition of Venice Film Festival in 2023, and went on to screen at other film festivals including the 2023 BFI London Film Festival and the 2024 Barcelona-Sant Jordi International Film Festival where it won the critics award.
Starring the film are Anaïs Demoustier, Edouard Baer, Jonathan Cohen, Gilles Lellouche, Pio Marmaï, Didier Flamand, and Romain Duris.
Release Date
Directed by Quentin Dupieux, ‘Daaaaaalí’ opens in select US theaters on October 4, 2024.
Synopsis
For journalist Judith Rochant (Anaïs Demoustier) the assignment to interview renowned artist Salvador Dalí is a great career opportunity–if only he would agree to sit still and answer a single question. What begins as a 15-minute conversation blows up into a bonafide cinematographic documentary portrait, provided the world’s most enormous cameras are available to film it. As Judith’s interview is delayed, detoured, disrupted, and deranged by Dalí’s inexhaustible self-regard, the journalist finds herself becoming the subject. The legendary painter’s artistry and ego know no bounds, and Daaaaaalí! dutifully casts no less than five actors (Edouard Baer, Jonathan Cohen, Giles Lellouche, Pio Marmaï, and Didier Flamand) as Salvador Dalí in this prismatic portrait. The prolific Quentin Dupieux’s latest comedy is an exercise in dream logic and surrealist homage, with the rug pulled out from under you again and again before you even manage to get up off the floor.
Reviews
Christian Zilko in an IndieWire review praised the film, writing, “As one of the 21st century’s most prominent surrealists (faint praise indeed, given his niche status), Dupieux was the perfect man to lead audiences on a victory lap through 20th-century surrealism’s greatest hits.”
Jessica Kiang in a Variety review also praised the film, writing, “Maybe the director’s greatest feat here is that despite the five different actors and all the background nonsense, he makes the beloved, mercurial madman the most consistent presence amid all the other, far more normcore characters.”
Official Trailer
Watch the official trailer for ‘Daaaaaalí!’