You could almost say Salvador Dali was the Andy Warhol of the 1920s and 1930s. The idea an artist could be a multimedia celebrity pretty much started with him. Perhaps more than anyone else before or since, he lived his life like it was performance art. Fittingly, Quentin Dupieux examines Dali’s eccentricity and self-promotion in Daaaaaali! (another film to make you grateful for the control-C copy function), which opens today in New York.
When you understand the title, you understand the nature of the film. Reportedly, each “a” in Daaaaaali!, represents one of the thesps who were supposed to play him in the film (apparently, Dupieux has one “a” to grow on). It is sort of like his I’m Not There, but it is more playful, subversive, and dare we say it . . . surreal. The five do not merely play Dali at different stages of his life. They often switch off mid-scene.
Yet, there’s more, including a storyline—at least more than most Warhol films ever had. Judith Rochant is a journalist (or sometimes a barista) who needs an interview with Dali to take her career to the next level. However, he will not waste his time if cameras are not present. Fortunately, Jerome the producer is willing to fund a documentary sufficiently grandiose to satisfy Dali monumental self-image.
Of course, each attempt to film Dali leads to disaster. In most cases, it is largely or entirely his fault. He can be difficult, especially when he is a guest at a dinner party. Yet, in his defense, the dream a boorish priest insists on telling him literally never seems to end. Whenever, it seems to conclude, it turns out to be another false stop that restarts the unending cycle.
Daaaaaali! never claims to be accurate with regards to anything, but it is much truer to the spirit of Dali’s work than Mary Harron’s Daliland. It is also slyly inventive in a low-tech kind of way, like the early scene of Dali walking down an infinitely long corridor towards the room where Rochant hopes to interview him.
Edouard Baer, Jonathan Cohen, Gilles, Lellouche, Pio Marmai, and Didier Flamand all have a jolly good time mugging and chewing the scenery as Dali, Dali, Dali, Dali, and old Dali. However, the funniest work might come from Romain Duris, playing against type as he oozes sleaze as Jerome the producer.
Running a mere 78-minutes, Daaaaaali! is shorty, but it is still longer and more satisfying than Dupieux’s previous release, Yannick. It is consistently funny, in a sophisticated oddball kind of way. Highly recommended for Dali and Dupieux fans, Daaaaaali! opens today (10/4) in New York, at the Quad.