Review: ‘Yannick’ is a Fascinating Experiment
With a measured approach to its story, this 2023 film is a delight to watch, but ends on a rather inconclusive note
I am very unfamiliar with Quentin Dupieux’s filmography, but I know just enough to be aware of how strange his movies are. His latest film, Yannick, might have a rather absurd premise, but it follows through on its core ideas with a surprising amount of clarity and structure.
It starts off with a performance of a tame comedy in Paris, in which one of the patrons, Yannick (Raphaël Quenard), interrupts the play to voice his disinterest in it. After he finds that the actors are making fun of him for his outburst, he demands that they perform something more to his liking. Wielding a gun and pointing it at whoever he talks to, Yannick coerces everyone around him to be on his side, as they placate him out of fear.
In many ways, the film feels as if it follows a similar format to the fictional play that opened it. While I’d like to think I’m measured enough not to threaten a theatre full of people with a weapon just because I’m not enjoying a production, the snippet we see of it isn’t very compelling. It feels as if it was structured as a ‘yes, and’ improv experiment, in which the imperative is to continue the story at all costs. The…
