Deerskin
(Quentin Dupieux)

Having won a Best Actor Oscar over competition that included Brad Pitt and George Clooney, and playing a bit role in a Martin Scorsese film, Jean Dujardin has more or less gone full Gérard Depardieu. The once handsome visage has gotten a littler burlier, a little fuller, and he has more or less just let himself go. Or that’s the impression I gathered as I was watching Quentin Dupieux’ Deerskin. The fundamental premise of the film finds Dujardin as Georges, a rotund sadsack that trades in his fitted blazer for a fringed, one-size-too-large brown deerskin jacket. The gag, as it were, finds Georges committed to a world where he’s the only man alive wearing a jacket. So, as is his want, he proceeds to go on a killing spree, with his signature move finding him stripping his victims of their coats. Yep. He records his kills on a camcorder, recruiting a waitress-turned-video editor named Denise (Adèle Haenel) to compose a sizzle reel of sorts. It’s a ridiculous premise that fulfills its gag potential within minutes. You almost want to give it credit for merely existing or for even having the bravado to suggest that a sequel is possible. But some ideas are best left as theoretical and Deerskin is clearly one of them.