“In the Skin of Blanche Houllebecq” in theaters on March 13: the improbable duo between the comedian and the novelist

Michel Houellebecq, plus flapi que jamais, face à Blanche Gardin, en verve et en goguette ! JEAN-CLAUDE LOTHER – Jean-Claude Lother

After the crazy comedy "Thalasso" in which he imagined his meeting with Gérard Depardieu in a thalassotherapy center, the director Guillaume Nicloux continues his companionship with Michel Houellebecq, the most sulphurous and talented French novelist today, by fictionalizing his association with Blanche Gardin, the most incorrect of comedians. Hilarious !

When we think that the United States must be content with “franchises” type Star Wars or Marvel. In France, we have Michel Houellebecq, that has a different look, you admit! A face of Gai-Luron (Gotlib, remember) who would have been deprived of somersault with Belle-Lurette but also of dessert, drinks and dentures. In short, a haggard, crippled old mutt at the end of his life… but still and always one of the greatest living French writers, even if some of his positions, shady, rotten or rancid, could have turned the tables on him. rsquo;opinion, even the stomach. And Guillaume Nicloux, filmmaker whose importance is still underestimated (rewatch Les Confins du monde ) to make said brilliant debris the subject at the same time as the object of a comic extended universe!

Third adventure of the novelist

After the hilarious The kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq (2014) and the hilarious Thalasso (2019) , where the novelist shared the star and the bottle with Gérard Depardieu,  two already highly improbable and recommendable comedies, here is the third iteration, just as delirious and hilarious, although much sunnier: In the shoes of Blanche Houellebecq.

So, after an already hilarious prologue with Gaspard Noé and Jean-Pascal Zadi, Michel Houellebecq flies off to Guadeloupe, where he is the guest of ;honor of a lookalike competition… of himself, whose jury is chaired by Blanche Gardin. On site, the sulphurous intellectual and the incorrect comedian, two messy people with divergent opinions, will have to rub shoulders, and more because of affinities, and more because above all because of difficulties! Nothing goes right and the dysfunctional duo multiplies the problems.

As with his previous productions of “Houellebecq cinematic universe”, Nicloux gave acting directions but no dialogue to his actors (all amazing), leaving them to improvise. by acting out the situations. Semi-improvised, his comedy always has something semi-messed up, and its crazy aspect is not for nothing in its toxic, borderline hallucinogenic charm! Racism, pollution, neo-colonialism, independence… his farce does not hesitate to put his finger where it hurts, but never departs from the desire to make the mess that inhabits him, even stupid .

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