Deerskin
Director: Quentin Dupieux
Starring: Jean Dujardin, Adèle Haenel, Albert Delpy
Genre: Oh dear
Quentin Tarrantino will probably direct the English-language version of Deerskin. It will star Leonardo DiCaprio which is a shame because he’s too young and good looking for the role. Nonetheless, Tarrantino would be the perfect director because he has a knack for portraying madness and somehow making the gratuitous seem valid.
In Deerskin, the descent into madness is triggered by a marriage breakdown. Most men would at least consider drowning their sorrows in fast cars and pointless short-term relationships, but Georges (Jean Dujardin) seeks solace from a second-hand overpriced deerskin jacket, and then progresses to ensure, at the jacket’s urging, that it be the only jacket in the world.
Deerskin is set in the pre-internet world – Georges documents his love of his jacket through a handycam and makes calls on pay-phones. If Tarrantino is looking for an angle for his remake he could look to updating it to the modern age, and rather than the wobbly handycam, a mobile phone could substitute, documenting the madness and posting it on socials until it becomes a global phenomenon triggering worldwide insanity. It could have a lot to say about Covid loneliness and searches for meaning.
But the original Deerskin is French, quaint, amusing and odd in a good way. And therein lies its attraction. The Tarrantino blockbuster version may get more eyeballs but will never capture the intrinsic essence of one man’s loss and gain.
Rating: Three-and-a-half anoraks.
_______________
