Director: Jean-Paul Guigue, Dimitri Planchon
Writers: Clémence Lebatteux, Dimitri Planchon
Stars: Léa Drucker, Jacques Gamblin, Timéo
Synopsis: Follows 16-year-old introverted Blaise who always agrees to everything until he meets Josephine and decides to blow everything up, while his mother Carole tries to win over employees and his father Jacques seeks respect.
One full week into the Fantasia International Film Festival, a diamond in the rough has finally come into my lap, and I’ve got no choice but to discuss the extraordinary, animated oddity that is Jean-Paul Guigue and Dimitri Planchon’s Blaise. After a rapturous premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last May, Blaise comes to Montreal in its uncensored glory, an adult animated series of vignettes that feels very much in line with the spirit of Quentin Dupieux’s work, not only through the presence of Mr. Oizo alum Léa Drucker, but in its mordant, absurd humor seeping in every frame.
If the discordant animated style of Blaise surprises you, it didn’t much surprise this ardent viewer of both Archer and the Têtes à claques. Its style of humor is undoubtedly in that same spirit, which will likely divide audiences who may be unfamiliar with its array of deadpan (and frequently morbid) jokes the movie takes throughout its brisk 77-minute runtime. Essentially, it follows the tribulations of the introverted titular character (voiced by Timéo), but there’s no real throughline or plot. It’s basically stitched together by a series of sketches that vary in quality but are so absurd it won’t take long for you to fall in love with the group of eccentric (and terrifyingly realistic) characters both Guigue and Planchon draw for you.
I will say that the political aspect of the movie doesn’t get as deepened as it should, especially as it’s an intrinsic part of the satire, but it yields in one of the darkest (yet funniest) moments I’ve seen in a movie in a (very) long time. Using the word “moments” in a review may feel like a catch-all, but it is a specific bit that takes a considerable while to get to that payoff, one that’s so gutsy and genuinely original that it surprised even a critic that doesn’t get much thrilled by watching new releases in cinemas. It’s the type of bold swing that will either make or break your appreciation of the work, but one that we so desperately need in an era of risk-free entertainment that wants to coddle viewers instead of provoking them.
Blaise is definitely a movie in the latter category; one filled with so many outré scenes it almost defies categorization. The caricatural animation is detailed and perceptive, while the screenplay isn’t afraid to push buttons and go as far as they can with jokes involving the French president having to sign a treaty on rocks, and being welcomed in a household with a cabinet of loaded guns inside. I can’t even describe what happens next, not just for spoilers, but because the bit is too funny to reveal in words that none of them will do justice. It must be seen to be believed.
In a way, Blaise does feel like a feature-length sitcom, where some scenes work to the detriment of others, but the proposition feels so fresh and daring that it almost doesn’t matter if all the jokes don’t land, or if many characters embody archetypes. The directors don’t really evolve them past their one-note attributes, but that’s also the point. If you’ve watched Archer or the Têtes à claques, none of the figures that are presented in these respective series evolve. They stay the same and are always stuck in perpetually dumb situations. It’s what made these shows so popular (and hilarious), beyond their daring animation styles.
Even in the fallout of a fairly traumatic and harrowing event, Guigue and Planchon still go all in on comedy. One has to respect their commitment to the bit, even if Blaise can often exhaust itself and end in a relatively abrupt fashion. That said, as far as the current crop of films I’ve seen at Fantasia is concerned, there probably isn’t a better oddity I’ve (so far) seen at this year’s edition of the festival than this one. The Animation Plus section can sometimes screen some genuinely creative stuff that audiences seem to dismiss more easily than some of the other offerings at the festival, but it shouldn’t be ignored. Films like Blaise, and Cherry and Virgin are living proof that animation does have its place at Fantasia and needs to be championed even more than it is.
