Full Phil

Einen Revenge-Film der feinsten Sorte tischt uns buchstäblich der Meister der absurden Groteske auf. Vater Phil will gutmachen, dass er seine mittlerweile erwachsene Tochter wohlstandsverwahrlost hat, und lädt sie für ein Wochenende in die Luxus-Suite eines mondänen Hotels ein. Madeleine nimmt Rache am phlegmatischen Papa und lässt sich vom Zimmermädchen – zugleich ihr Love Interest – immer neue Speisen bringen. Erlesene Macarons, fettige Hähnchenschenkel und ein ganzer Apple Pie werden mit viel Wein heruntergespült. Während Madeleine den Hals nicht vollkriegt, steuert der Film unweigerlich auf seine Pointe zu. (Dunja Bialas)

A totally messed-up American father (Woody Harrelson) desperately tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter Madeleine (Kristen Stewart) by arranging a trip to Paris, but things do not go as planned. The French cuisine triggers bizarre eating disorders and serious gastric problems. Toilets get clogged. A hotel manager invades their privacy. Paris erupts in protests. On top of it all, Madeleine is obsessed with an old, low budget monster movie she is watching on DVD—a film that mirrors her dysfunctional relationship with her dad. Over the past decade, Quentin Dupieux has become the true ambassador of a contemporary cinéma de l’absurde, which has its roots in French surrealism while pushing into whole new territories with unabashed freedom. A feast of debauchery and buffoonery, FULL PHIL explores the pleasures and troubles of eating, digestion and elimination as surreal expressions of connection, hatred and father-daughter love. With its scatological, psychoanalytic undertones, all of this might sound—and actually is—fabulously nonsensical, but Dupieux, together with the terrific Stewart and Harrelson, embraces total nonsense with such passion and joy that it becomes the only way to deal with the chaotic, monstrous cycles of life and death. (Evgeny Gusyatinskiy)

Quentin Dupieux: NONFILM (2001, K), STEAK (2007), RUBBER (2010), WRONG (2012), WRONG COPS: CHAPTER 1 (2012, K), WRONG COPS (2013), RÉALITÉ (2014), AU POSTE! (2018), LE DAIM (2019), MANDIBULES (2020), FUMER FAIT TOUSSER (2022), INCROYABLE MAIS VRAI (2022), YANNICK (2023), DAAAAAALI! (2023), LE DEUXIÈME ACTE (2024), L’ACCIDENT DE PIANO (2025), LE VERTIGE (2026)