There
is nothing fake about the WWI military service of Albert Maillard and Edouard Péricourt—they
have the scars and disfigurement to prove it. However, the war memorials they
peddle are as phony as a three-Franc note. As far as Péricourt, the
disillusioned artist is concerned, it is exactly what the public deserves for
their fake sympathy. Maillard is less convinced, but he will be passively
carried along with the scheme in Albert Dupontel’s See You Up There (trailer here), which screens
during the 2018 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema.
As
Maillard explains to the interrogating Algerian police officer, nobody wanted
to die when they knew armistice was imminent, but their commanding officer, Lt.
Henri d’Aulnay-Pradelle was a truly evil jerk, who had to get in one last
battle, in blatant defiance of his orders. In fact, Maillard sees the
incriminating evidence—two French scouts shot in the back—before d’Aulnay-Pradelle
blew their bodies apart. Péricourt rescues Maillard from a premature burial,
but loses the better part of his jaw for his efforts.
At
Péricourt’s behest, Maillard switches his identity with that of a former ward
of the state killed in action, sparing him a presumably painful reunion with
his severely judgmental father. Péricourt remains in a morphine-laced
depression, until a friendship with the neighboring orphan girl and his dodgy
war memorial plan rejuvenate his spirits. As fate would have it, his father
will unwittingly help fund the con and become its biggest sucker.
In
terms of visual style, SYUT is so
grandly baroque, it could pass for the work of Jean-Pierre Jeunet. The
narrative itself is a grubby tale of swindles and payback, but Dupontel gives
it epic sweep. There are even gothic elements, such as the flamboyant masks Péricourt
crafts for himself that evoke the Phantom of the Opera.
Dupontel
is his own best collaborator, playing Maillard as a poignantly nebbish
everyman. He is also rather touching when courting the Péricourt family’s maid,
Pauline, who should be well out of his league, since she is played by Mélanie
Thierry, but whatever. As the masked Péricourt, Nahuel Pérez Biscayart
impressively expresses much through body language and his eyes. Niels Arestrup
is as reliable as ever gruffly but sensitively portraying Old Man Péricourt, while
Laurent Lafitte (of the Comédie Française) chews the scenery with relish as the
irredeemable Lieutenant. Yet, the film wouldn’t be the same without André
Marcon biding his time as the sly colonial gendarme.
