‘Daaaaaali!’ Review – Quentin Dupieux Delivers A Surrealist Masterclass In Madness

In a world where biopics often tread predictable paths—meticulously crafted portrayals of famous figures practically screaming for awards season accolades—it’s a breath of fresh air when a filmmaker like Quentin Dupieux comes along to shatter the mold. Renowned for his surreal, off-the-wall comedies, Dupieux is back with Daaaaaali!, a film that not only strays from the typical biopic formula but laughs in its face. Rather than offering a respectful homage to Salvador Dalí, it plays out like a wild, absurdist riff on what a biopic can be, caring little for historical accuracy or artistic reverence. Instead, it celebrates surrealism, chaos, and the joy of filmmaking while questioning whether deeper meaning even matters.

The film follows hapless journalist Judith (Anaïs Demoustier) as she navigates increasingly frustrating attempts to interview Dalí, played by a rotating cast of French actors, including Edouard Baer and Gilles Lellouche, all sporting ludicrous fake mustaches. Here’s the twist: it doesn’t matter who plays Dalí because Dupieux’s version is less a character than a collection of surrealist gags strung together with baffling logic. One moment, he crashes a car into a beachside setup for a grand entrance; the next, he takes forever to reach Judith while delivering lines with impeccable grandeur.

This is where Dupieux’s genius lies. He doesn’t want you to think too hard or tug at your heartstrings; he aims to make you laugh. In one scene, Dalí rejects an interview for a magazine because he believes his presence should only be captured on film—then promptly crashes that very filming. Daaaaaali! operates as a series of surreal, often ridiculous vignettes that stretch gags far past the point of comfort, ultimately making you laugh when you didn’t think it possible.

But don’t be fooled into thinking Daaaaaali! is merely a gag reel; Dupieux weaves a sharp satire of the biopic genre throughout. By constantly swapping actors, each sporting the same ludicrous mustache and delivering exaggerated performances, he provocatively asks: how much can we reduce a life to caricature before it becomes parody? The Dalí on screen is a joke-shop version of the artist, so consumed by ego that it’s impossible to discern where the real Dalí ends and the absurdity begins. This is the crux of Dupieux’s genius—there’s no ‘real’ Dalí here, just as history offers no authentic Salvador Dalí. He was a self-crafted myth of eccentricities, and Dupieux embraces this chaos, reminding us that life itself is just as surreal and exaggerated as the stories we tell about it.

The film’s structure is equally playful, jumping from one absurd set piece to another with the casual grace of a dream sequence. At one point, a priest tells Dalí his dreams in the hopes the artist will create a new work for a church auction, only for it to be revealed that the priest’s story was itself part of the dream. The film continues to pull the rug out from under the viewer, playing with layers of reality and fantasy in a way that makes you wonder if anything you’ve seen on screen was ever supposed to be taken at face value. Dupieux’s brand of surrealism is pure cinema magic—it’s less about asking you to understand what’s happening, and more about urging you to enjoy the ride, laugh at the nonsense, and maybe even contemplate the thin line between truth and fiction, art and artifice.

Dupieux also takes aim at the nature of storytelling itself and who gets to control it. Dalí, at one point, turns the camera on Judith, asking why she should be the one to tell his story. This meta moment feels almost like Dupieux is speaking directly to the audience, questioning why we place so much value on one person’s interpretation of another’s life. Does anyone truly have the right to distill a person’s existence into a 77-minute film? This question lingers beneath the surface of all Dupieux’s gags, but as with everything in Daaaaaali!, it never feels like a sermon. If anything, the film suggests that attempting to answer such questions seriously would only spoil the fun.

Fun is the operative word here. Dupieux has mastered the art of making his audience laugh in situations where other filmmakers would fall flat. His humor is a delicate balance of slapstick and absurdity, where even the most drawn-out, belabored gags somehow circle back around to being hilarious. Take the running gag where Dalí’s attempts to conduct a simple interview are repeatedly derailed by increasingly bizarre circumstances: it should be tiring, but it’s not. It’s funny precisely because Dupieux knows how to milk every moment for maximum absurdity. You laugh because it’s stupid, and you laugh harder because it’s smarter than you expected.

And that’s the beauty of Daaaaaali!. It’s a film that manages to be both utterly ridiculous and oddly profound, often in the same breath. Dupieux isn’t here to give you a deep exploration of Salvador Dalí’s life or psyche—he’s here to make you laugh, and maybe, just maybe, to leave you with a few thoughts about the absurdity of art, fame, and storytelling. In a world full of biopics that take themselves far too seriously, Dupieux is a breath of fresh, surreal air. He’s not asking us to ponder life’s big questions, but if you find yourself laughing and thinking at the same time, well, that’s just part of the fun.

Daaaaaali! will debut in theaters on October 4, 2024, courtesy of Music Box Films.