Loosely inspired by the Dupont de Ligonnès affair, the film “Plastic Guns” by Jean-Christophe Meurisse is presented at the end of the Filmmakers’ Fortnight at this 2024 Cannes festival. A comedy that dares everything! In theaters June 26.
It’s undoubtedly the craziest French comedy of this entire edition of the Cannes festival, and it is presented this evening at the closing of the Filmmakers’ Fortnight, one of the parallel sections: Plastic guns.
The film begins with Jonathan Coen and Fred Tousch around an operating table, in the middle of an autopsy, chatting as if at a bar counter over a beer. Purpose of the discussion? Netflix’s fascination with films and series based on current events! The scene sets the tone of this comedy. That of daring to laugh at a subject which should, on paper, arouse fear.
A film directly inspired by a highly publicized news item
Because even if all the names have been changed, the main inspiration for the film is none other than the Dupont de Ligonnès affair. It is obviously a fiction, but the plot is that of this man whose story has caused a lot of ink to flow. The murder of his family, and his escape.
The pitch is as follows: Léa and Christine are obsessed with the Paul Bernardin affair, a man suspected of having killed his entire family and mysteriously disappeared. As they go to investigate the house where the killing took place, the media announce that Paul Bernardin has just been arrested in Northern Europe…
A black comedy, in the tradition of the Coen brothers
This new production by Jean-Christophe Meurisse (founder of the troupe Les Chiens de Navarre) fully embraces the genre of black comedy, clearly leaning towards the Coen brothers. The film is a succession of sketches, with several main characters as a common thread, including the excellent Delphine Baril and Charlotte Laemmel, but also numerous guests: Jonathan Coen, but also Nora Hamzawi, Vincent Dedienne and Aymeric Lompret.
As in Blood Oranges, the previous production by Jean-Christophe Meurisse (see trailer above), the humor is caustic, and at times, bordering on disturbing.
The film is certainly less violent than Blood Oranges, but presents some particularly trashy scenes which may be off-putting, in relation to the subject and this very real story at the origin.
Plastic Guns hits theaters June 26
