Incroyable mais vrai

If you have watched other Quentin's Dupieux movies, you know what to expect. This is another comedy/drama/fantasy movie, surreal, bizarre, funny and weird. His movies are like a Parallel World, it's looking like ours, but it's not.

This movie is more coherent than his previous ones, there are some understandable messages here. It's a satire of modern way of living/of our shallow ambitions. Viewer gets what Dupieux try to say. Vanity is an unseen enemy of our happiness.

This is a better movie than Le daim (2019), better than WRONG (2012), a little bit worse than REALITY (2014).

I can't rate it higher because it didn't amaze me. It's clever, not brilliant. Enjoyable, not exciting. You will not think about this movie after you watch it, just like almost every other movie of him. In any case, if you haven't heard of this director, and you find it interesting as it was described, watch it.

This brilliant short long movie (74 minutes) is defined as comedy drama fantasy. In fact it's a sci-fi satire but since fantasy and sci-fi are next of kin I'll accept the term. As for comedy drama - it's a non term to begin with but satire seem to confuse many since it uses humor as its main weapon.

That was all I'll speak about definitions, regarding the movie itself - like all good sci-fi it speaks about the world we live in and more specifically about our gadget worshiping culture. We get here two gadgets one is straightforward gadget - mechanical - Japanese namely coming from the country in which gadgets are the new state religion so it's a gadget with a kosher stamp on it. The other gadget is more of an unexplained device, but as far as I'm concerned it works just like a gadget. It performs a very special trick which the movie accepts as true - unbelievable but true - as the movie title's declares. And its being used by one of the leads in the movie just like any other gadget, so that the way I'll refer to it. As a rule - and that's the reason we get two gadgets in the movie so we can establish a rule and not discuss an episode of a sort - gadgets are born from voids in our lives we need to fill - but voids tend to remain empty no matter how much one tries to fill them. Here lies the problem - trying to fill a void can quickly become an addiction and addictions are dangerous.

So if the fact we all know addictions are dangerous means that this movie is predictable - not really - it means that it establishes its own set of rules and quickly demonstrates to us how these rules correspond with the rules we live by and bring about the same results, for me that's not being predictable but rather brilliant script writing. Combine this with very good acting performances with Lea Drucker topping the list, with very efficient camera work that doesn't need any cinematic fireworks but does deliver. And in my personal book you get a near masterpiece. Go see it - Quentin Dupieux is a director to watch.

Predictable, super vulgar, old comedic effects, caricatures here we come. Seriously what happened to Dupieux. The image is disgusting, acting is off besides tertiary roles and Anaïs Demoustier. Luckily it was 70 minutes.

One thing I've learned from Quentin Dupieux's films, is it's best to go into them totally cold. I knew nothing of Incredible But True, other than it was a Dipeoux creation, and that Arrow Video saw fit to give it a proper Blu-ray release. That's enough for me, knowing his movies carry a totally left-field level of bizarre intrigue. The first movie of his that I saw was Rubber, and I knew I had to see a movie about a killer tire, but at the same time, I would have liked to have known less! And it was still full of WTF surprises, so I guess I shouldn't complain.

Ultimately, Incredible But True is about two couples drifting apart... under Dupieux's trademark fantastical plot elements. Of which... I can't go into. One circumstance is particularly hilarious, yet both situations, though surreal, are steeped in the reality of the human condition. This movie has elements of comedy, drama, sci-fi, and fantasy, leaning heavily on all of them, at times. Dialogue is particularly strong, which is something I always enjoy (spoken French, subtitled). Strong performances from all four main actors (oh yeah, the realtor as well), apparently very well-known in France.

The one complaint I have of this film is the final act. I'm not sure why Dupieux leans on brevity in his films. I get that (possibly) he's trying the audience's patience on (possibly) absurd gimmicks. I don't know if he actually feels that way, but I really felt the final act was needlessly carried out in a narrative shorthand. It's a (very) long montage that plays out what happens to the four main characters, and I honestly thought he could've fleshed out this portion of the film properly, to go from an abbreviated 75-minute running time, to a full-length 90-95 minute proper film. Though it concludes on both hands amusingly and poignantly (...and bizarrely), I couldn't help but feel cheated. I felt like I was dropped off a cliff when the credits came up, and had to immediately reevaluate. Not that there was a cliffhanger, or he didn't follow the story through, but you're left with an extended rapid-fire montage that abruptly ends, to process.

I would still highly recommend Incredible But True, as this filmmaker is a true original, with intriguingly out-there ideas, and a proficiency for crackling dialogue. I just disagreed with what he did with the concluding portion of the plot, leaving me a little baffled (and when I should actually be baffled by his oddball concepts!).

Starting with as implausible a premiss as "Mandibles", this follows what logic there is into (in my mind) an interesting set of conclusions. Indeed, there are two separate ridiculous bases to the plot, both of which cause serious implications for the core characters as they follow their dreams and fantasies to unfortunate (or at least disappointing) ends.

There are lots of lovely comic touches throughout and appropriate awkwardness, particularly as the wife's self-image as a supermodel is gradually punctured.

I'm guessing that the core theme is that being happy with one's lot is not necessarily a "failure" and change isn't always for the good - but having this message wrapped up in such bonkers packaging is quite fun, and I'm glad that Quentin is out there doing "not normal" stuff like this alongside more generic fare.

Worth a look.