''Daaaaaalí!'' is a 2023 French absurdist

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

written, directed, shot and edited by Quentin Dupieux. It has been described as a "real fake biopic" about the surrealist artist

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...

. The film premiered out of competition at the

80th Venice International Film Festival The 80th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 30 August to 9 September 2023, at Venice Lido in Italy. Alberto Barbera, Venice's artistic director, acknowledged that the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike was likely to impact the festival ...

, and was theatrically released on 7 February 2024.

Plot

A French journalist meets with Spanish surrealist artist

on multiple occasions for an unproductive documentary project.

Cast

Production

The film was produced by Thomas and Mathieu Verhaeghe through Atelier de Production, in co-production with

France 3 Cinéma France 3 () is a French free-to-air public television network. The second flagship network of France Télévisions, it broadcasts a wide range of general and specialized programming. France 3 is structured as a regional service with 13 re ...

. On 8 November 2022, Dupieux announced on his Instagram account that

principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

for the film had commenced. The post also revealed a cast including

Anaïs Demoustier Anaïs Aude Marie Michèle Demoustier (; born 29 September 1987) is a French actress. She was nominated for Most Promising Actress twice at the César Awards, in 2009 for '' Les Grandes Personnes'' and in 2011 for '' Living on Love Alone''. In 2 ...

Édouard Baer Édouard Baer (born 1 December 1966) is a French actor, director, screenwriter, film producer and radio personality. In 2001, Edouard Baer played the Egyptian scribe Otis in Alain Chabat's hit comedy Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatra. Baer ...

Gilles Lellouche Gilles Lellouche (; born 5 July 1972) is a French actor and director. He was nominated twice for a César Award; in 2006 for Most Promising Actor and in 2011 for Best Supporting actor for his performance in '' Little White Lies'' (2010). Earl ...

Pio Marmaï Pio Marmaï (born 13 July 1984) is a French actor. He has appeared in more than twenty films since 2008. Early life and education Marmaï was born on 13 July 1984. His mother is a former costume designer at the Opéra de Strasbourg, and his fa ...

, Jonathan Cohen, Hakim Jemili, Agnès Hurstel, Jérôme Niel, Marc Fraize and

Didier Flamand Didier Flamand (born 12 March 1947) is a French actor and theatre director. He has appeared in more than 200 films and television shows since 1973. He starred in Raúl Ruiz's 1978 film '' The Suspended Vocation''. Theater Filmography Actor ...

Alain Chabat Alain Chabat (; born 24 November 1958) is a French actor, comedian, director, screenwriter, producer and television presenter. Originally known for his work in the comedy group Les Nuls, including as the co-writer and lead actor of ''La Cité de ...

and

Pierre Niney Pierre Niney (; born 13 March 1989) is a French actor. He made his acting debut in the two-part miniseries ''La dame d'Izieu'' in 2007, followed by films such as '' LOL (Laughing Out Loud)'' (2008), '' The Army of Crime'' (2009), '' Romantics Ano ...

were planned as cast members but were ultimately unavailable. It was revealed that Dalí would be portrayed by multiple actors throughout the film. Shooting took place in the Parisian suburb of

Saint-Cloud Saint-Cloud () is a French commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, from the centre of Paris. Like other communes of Hauts-de-Seine such as Marnes-la-Coquette, Neuilly-sur-Seine and Vaucresson, Saint-Cloud is one of France's wealthie ...

, the

south of France Southern France, also known as the south of France or colloquially in French as , is a geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', Atlas e ...

, and finally in Spain, where a house on the

Costa Brava The Costa Brava (; ; "Wild Coast" or "Rough Coast") is a coastal region of Catalonia in northeastern Spain. Sources differ on the exact definition of the Costa Brava. Usually it can be regarded as stretching from the town of Blanes, northeas ...

was staged for the film to evoke Dalí's house in

Portlligat Portlligat is a small village located in a small bay on Cap de Creus peninsula, on the Costa Brava of the Mediterranean Sea, in the municipality of Cadaqués in the Alt Empordà comarca, in Catalonia, Spain. The island of Portlligat is located a ...

. In the Spanish desert, Dupieux also filmed ''

tableaux vivants A (; often shortened to ; ; ) is a static scene (performing arts), scene containing one or more actors or models. They are stationary and silent, usually in costume, carefully posed, with props and/or theatrical scenery, scenery, and may be s ...

'' inspired by two paintings by Dalí: ''Necrophilic Fountain Flowing from a Grand Piano'' (1932) and ''The Average Fine and Invisible Harp'' (1932). After six weeks, filming officially wrapped on 23 December 2022.

Release

''Daaaaaalí!'' was selected to be screened out of competition at the

, where it had its world premiere on 7 September 2023. International sales are handled by Kinology. The film was originally scheduled to be theatrically released on 1 November 2023, but was postponed by Diaphana Distribution to 7 February 2024.

Soundtrack

In August 2023, it was confirmed that

Thomas Bangalter Thomas Bangalter (; born 3 January 1975) is a French musician. He is best known as one half of the former French house music duo Daft Punk, alongside Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. He has recorded and released music as a member of the trio Music S ...

, formerly of

Daft Punk Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. They achieved popularity in the late 1990s as part of the French house movement, combining house music, funk, disco, tech ...

, had composed the score for the film. Bangalter, a friend of Dupieux's, previously made a cameo in Dupieux's 2014 film ''

Reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of everything in existence; everything that is not imagination, imaginary. Different Culture, cultures and Academic discipline, academic disciplines conceptualize it in various ways. Philosophical questions abo ...

'', a film starring Bangalter's wife

Élodie Bouchez Élodie Bouchez (born 5 April 1973) is a French actress. She became internationally known for her role as Renée Rienne on the fifth and final season of the television show '' Alias'' and for playing Maïté Alvarez in the film '' Wild Reeds''. ...

. Bangalter and Dupieux wanted the score to be its own "character" in the movie. Bangalter exclusively used an ancient

zither Zither (; , from the Greek ''cithara'') is a class of stringed instruments. The modern instrument has many strings stretched across a thin, flat body. Zithers are typically played by strumming or plucking the strings with the fingers or a ...

as the instrument for the score. In January 2024,

Ed Banger Records Ed Banger Records (sometimes referred to as Ed Rec) is a French electronic music record label founded by Pedro Winter in 2003 as a division of Headbangers Entertainment. It focuses on house music, particularly French house, as well as alternati ...

announced the release of a limited 10" vinyl EP containing Bangalter's brief original score for the film and a poster for the film. It was released to

streaming Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...

platforms on 7 February. The limited vinyl edition was released on 9 February 2024.

Reception

Critical response

AlloCiné AlloCiné is an entertainment website founded by Jean-David Blanc in 1988, then joined by Patrick Holzman. It has belonged to the company since 2013 Webedia. which specializes in providing information on French cinema, mostly centering on nove ...

, the film received an average rating of 3.6 out of 5 stars, based on 37 reviews from French critics. ''

Sight and Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (formerly written ''Sight & Sound'') is a monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). Since 1952, it has conducted the well-known decennial ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time. ...

'' critic John Bleasdale concluded, "Dupieux shares with his subject an obstinacy to forge ahead and in so doing attains a silliness that becomes dangerously close to the sublime."

References

External links

* {{Salvador Dalí 2023 films 2023 comedy films 2020s French films Absurdist fiction 2020s French-language films French comedy films Films directed by Quentin Dupieux France 3 Cinéma films Cultural depictions of Salvador Dalí Films about filmmaking Films shot in Hauts-de-Seine Films shot in France Films shot in Spain Thomas Bangalter albums