Au poste !
Quentin Dupieux in custody
Film. Police interrogation and pataphysical comedy, Au Poste ! is an entertainment as unstoppable as it is brief (1h13). Its director Quentin Dupieux tells us about his movie’s genesis. Interview.
By Jacques Braunstein
The poster evokes the covers of the VHS tapes of the 80s Belmondo’s films :Flic ou voyou, Le Professionnel, Le Marginal… We see Benoît Poelvoorde, gun in the holster, with a handcuffed Grégoire Ludig… Because Au Poste ! is a nocturnal face-to-face between the Belgian comic and the founder of the Palmashow.
“He pays tribute to the French cinema that fed him.”
Evoking the movie Garde à vue and its closed door between Lino Ventura and Michel Serrault… Like in the Claude Miller’s movie, there are plenty of twists. But we do feel that the story end’s discovery is not what matters here. Nor simple exercise of admiration, nor pure pastiche, Au Poste ! is rather a variation on the French mainstream cinema from the 70s to the 90s. “These films were well shot, well written, well played, well lit …” notes Quentin Dupieux who wanders with a fantasy and a communicative humor in references ranging from Le Père Noël est une ordure to I comme Icare and to Magnifique to Buffet Froid. Best known for his music under the nickname Mr Oizo and for his unconventional American movies : Steak, Rubber, Wrong Cops… he pays tribute to the French cinema that fed him, and is too often despised by cinema lovers. A delight.
