The art of discomfort
We would be tempted to say that Fiasco lives up to its name. Not because it’s a bad series, but rather because it fulfills the promise of its title in its story to the letter. In this case, that of the shooting of a first film which turns into an absolute catastrophe, with adventures which constantly push the limits of the absurd.
A fun idea based on the “mockumentary” formula, which made the great American sitcoms of the 2000s-2010s famous (The Office, Parks and Recreation…). The inspiration The Office is also obvious, particularly on a humorous level. In Fiascoeverything goes through embarrassment, discomfortand it must be said that Pierre Niney and his clique are particularly experts in this area.
A beautiful bunch of magnificent losers
Whether through a rotten play on words or a dazzling diarrhea in full live action, the series builds its best humorous sequences on a permanent one-upmanship and long, heavy silences. The whole thing is accompanied by a cascade of lies from all the characters, which obviously leads to perfectly grotesque misunderstandings (the famous Bartabé, by chance). Obviously, this omnipresent humor is double-edged, and not all jokes hit the mark. That said, the actors’ comedic timing regularly carries the series.
It is not so much the heart of the valves that works (they are very often deliberately failed), but the situations they cause, in an assembly as stupid as it is enjoyable to follow. Making people laugh through silence brings its share of breaks in tone and rhythm, which can sometimes dampen the energy of Fiasco. That said, its absurdity is undoubtedly its greatest strength, and the series has several truly hilarious scenes (the Viking scene with François Civil). Nevertheless, behind this friendly facade, Fiasco hard to convince completely.
Those who know, know
At the (small) heart of the fiasco
In Fiascoeverything is subject to laughter, or almost. Almost all of the scenes, whatever their nature, find their epilogue in jokes or discomfort (or both). The problem is that unlike The flame for example, who assumes this concept from start to finish, Niney and Gotesman have a real ambition to develop sincere and endearing characters.
They are, at least in part, but we have the impression that the humorous setting of the series ends up suffocating its true heart : tragic characters united by their funny passion for cinema. On paper, archetypes that could be compared to those of another recent work with Pierre Niney: the touching The Book of Solutions by Michel Gondry.
Pierre Niney, endearing and excellent
Except that where Gondry never lost sight of his objective (or almost, that’s another debate), Fiasco never really knows which foot to dance on. A clumsy balance well summed up in the last episode, which brings together the characters of Pierre Niney and Igor Gotesmancornerstones in their own way of the series’ mockumentary (did you say meta?).
On the one hand, the endearing but passionate loser, certainly a mirror of many aspiring directors, with big dreams and few means. The other, the embodiment of mass entertainment cynicism, the height of irony when we know that the series is produced by Netflix. A paradigm that Fiasco only touches.
A character that we would have liked to see more developed
On the sidelines of this confrontation, a myriad of characters that the series doesn’t really know what to do with, who are mainly there to bounce off Niney’s delusions. We think in particular of poor Leslie Medina, whose story gets off to a flying start before being gradually left aside, or of a Géraldine Nakache who plays the role.
Pascal Demolon’s producer is undoubtedly (and quite surprisingly) the one whose potential is best exploited, but, here again, he appears as a small frustration. On the contrary, François Civil is a completely assumed comic relief and, after his thunderous debut as “Bartabé”, his repetitive humor tends to run out of steam.
When will the Bartabé spinoff be released?
Satire or big joke?
Upon viewing, ultimately, it is difficult to know if Fiasco really knows his objective. There is no doubt that the series aims for the “acidic satire that hits everything that moves” box, but, very often, it seems above all like a big madness between friends that is both funny and incapable of exploiting (or too little) its brilliant potential. A real regret sinceon several occasions, the series hits the right note.
There is behind the laughter a sometimes acidic and inspired criticism of French cinema. Through the unhealthy game of producers, some of whom spend wildly on budgets that they do not have. But also this experienced actor who is simply unbearable on set (played by Vincent Cassel, obviously), or the question of the use of animals on a shoot.
The entire series finale, which takes place during the premiere of a mockumentary produced by Netflix, was even the perfect opportunity to support the satire. But, again, Fiasco refrains from going completely to the end of his ambitionsand this is certainly the biggest frustration we feel at the end of the viewing.
Fiasco is available in full on Netflix since April 30, 2024 in France
