It is a news item that fascinates the French, and for the first time, it will be the subject of a film for the cinema: the Dupont de Ligonnès affair. Be careful, this is a very, very offbeat adaptation and a scathing comedy!
What is it about ?
Léa and Christine are obsessed with the Paul Bernardin affair, a man suspected of having killed his entire family and mysteriously disappearing. 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…
Any resemblance to existing characters is purely coincidental? We know the formula… Here, there are many similarities between this man named Paul Bernardin and Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès, and the points of convergence are deliberate!
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. “It’s a mix between cinematic phantasmagoria and real fact, because obviously, with my collaborator, Amélie Philippe, we studied the whole story a lot for a year or two.“, specifies screenwriter and director Jean-Christophe Meurisse.
The challenge of daring to make a comedy on a shocking subject
Plastic Guns is a very, very free adaptation of this affair which is said to “fascinate” the French and is the subject of the wildest “fantasies” about what has become of this man who has been missing for years.
Dare to make a comedy on this subject, then! That’s the challenge of this crazy film, to be reserved for an informed audience, because of “a scene of great violence [pouvant] offend a sensitive audience“, as we can read alongside the film’s “all audiences with warning” rating.
Bac Films
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.
“I have, like many French people, a fairly morbid fascination, as a general rule, for news items, as is said at the beginning of the film, but especially Dupont de Ligonnès, explained director Jean-Christophe Meurisse, during the presentation of the film at the closing of the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes this year. And we have the impression – this is my interpretation – that many French people would like him to have succeeded. Because they too, they project themselves into him (…) For me, it challenged me the relationship we have with the monster, which only talks about intimate monsters.”
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.
“I dug into the story of Guy Joao, a poor guy who was arrested in Glasgow and taken for Dupont de Ligonnès – even though he had nothing to do with it. Early retired from Renault, he was mistaken for the most wanted man in France, and, arrested, he spent twenty-six hours of hell in Scottish jails… We were in a drawing by Sempé! I told myself that the real Dupont de Ligonnès had a good laugh! (…) I imagined two web investigators, who do not spend their weekends collecting stamps or tinkering, but who engage in research during their leisure time.
In their alcoholic journey, they end up enucleating the false culprit…“, continues the director in the film’s press kit.
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.
A black comedy, in the tradition of the Coen brothers
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. For its extremely zany side and its colorful characters, we can also think of the world of Monty Python.
Plastic Guns is released in cinemas this Wednesday June 26, 2024.
