Kafka on the beach.
Somewhere in southern France, Jean-Gab and Manu, two hapless but very lucky criminals, find a giant fly in the trunk of a stolen car and decide to domesticate it in order to rob banks. When their car breaks down on the road, a rich girl comes to the rescue, confusing Manu with her former classmate. Quentin Dupieux’s fantasy farce premiered at the 2020 Venice Film Festival.
Filmmaker Quentin Dupieux, also known as DJ and producer Mr. Oizo, has made a name for himself by shooting surreal horror comedies in the past couple of decades. The most notable of them, Rubber (2010) and Deerskin (2019), feature revived and deadly everyday objects. The plot of Mandibles revolves around Dominique, as Jean-Gab names the hefty fly, a creature, that brings to mind Kafka or David Cronenberg’s cinema. In Dupieux’s version it appears both toothy and cute.
Weaving all sorts of gags around the fly, the story moves freely in both the caustic satirical tonality of the Coen Brothers, and the explicitly politically incorrect excremental manner of the Farrelly brothers. Mandibles stars David Marsais and Grégoire Ludig from the popular French comedy duo Palmashow, who previously collaborated with Ludig on the absurd crime feature Keep an Eye Out (2018). Adèle Exarchopoulos (winner of the Palme d’Or for Blue Is the Warmest Color) plays one of the supporting roles in a completely uncommon casting for her. British indietronic band Metronomy recorded some relaxed resort beats for the film’s soundtrack.
The film will be screened in French with Russian subtitles.
Mandibles
Dir. Quentin Dupieux
France, Belgium, 2020. 77 min. 16+