Coupez!

A master of pastiche, Michel Hazanavicius has created an idiosyncratic, hilarious and highly conceptual filmic object with his brilliantly shot remake of NE COUPEZ PAS! (2017), Shinichiro Ueda’s low budget cult horror movie which became an international word-of-mouth hit.
Structured like a playful hall of mirrors, the film’s three-part narrative constantly shifts our perception. Shrewdly recreating every possible misstep, whether absurd and grotesque dialogues, erratic camera movements, actors looking out of frame or painstakingly repeating their lines for no reason, Hazanavicius takes us through a first, baffling episode: a shoddy zombie movie shot in a single take by an amateur film crew, unexpectedly disrupted by real zombies invading the set. An early flashback drawn with creative panache gives us some clue, but only the last part, a sidesplitting sequence bursting with inventiveness, finally reveals the reality behind this quirky yet vital shoot, where desperate resourcefulness and passionate team spirit earns everyone’s admiration. COUPEZ! is an ode to the amateur’s do-it-yourself approach to cinema, with a tiny budget but enormous faith and dedication, flawed but definitely authentic. (Maria Giovanna Vagenas)

Michel Hazanavicius: DERRICK CONTRE SUPERMAN (1992, K), CA DÉTOURNE (1992), LA CLASSE AMÉRICAINE (1993), C’EST PAS LE 20 HEURES (1995, TV-SERIES), MES AMIS (1999), OSS 117: LE CAIRE, NID D’ESPIONS (2006), OSS 117: RIO NE RÉPOND PLUS (2009), THE ARTIST (2011), LES INFIDÈLES (2014, Episode), THE SEARCH (2014), LE REDOUTABLE – GODARD MON AMOUR (2017), LE PRINCE OUBLIÉ (2020)