Rechercher Victor Pellerin (2006)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Sophie Deraspe

Writer:

Sophie Deraspe (writer)

Genre:

Biography

Tagline:

Art is a lie

Plot:

In the 90's, Victor Pellerin, a young star of the Art scene, burns a fortune in paintings and leaves Montreal without a trace...

Plot Keywords:

Victor Pellerin | Art | Revolution | Fake

Awards:

1 win

Also Known As:

Missing Victor Pellerin (USA) (new title)

Runtime:

Canada:102 min (original version)

Country:

Canada

Language:

French | French

Color:

Color (35 mm version)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Filming Locations:

Montréal, Québec, Canada

Company:

Les Films Siamois

Brilliantly original doc. Or maybe not

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This is a strikingly original documentary, or perhaps a docudrama, or perhaps just a superbly realized drama, depending on how good you are at suspending disbelief. It is full of suspense, no small feat when the subject is the dreary, bourgeois antics of art galleries and the artists who keep them in business.

Quebec writer-director Sophie Deraspe has crafted an astonishing work that must be seen to be believed, or NOT to be believed. This is an uncanny play on a documentary that is so believable that you're just never sure, down to the last frame, if it's genuine or not. And 'genuine' becomes a principal motif behind this work, because it's about the frauds that are committed not only by artists in an often fraudulent art world, but by the fraudulent art world that surrounds the artists and deems what is, or isn't, art. Deraspe offers a mischievous yet profound statement about the commodification of both art and artists, and the nature of reality. What is real, this film is asking, and what isn't, and do we really know the difference?

'Rechercher, etc.' concerns an eccentric and ingenious artist named Victor Pellerin, an alias for one Luc Gauthier, who, in 1990, burned all his paintings and disappeared from Montreal, never to be seen again by his family or his large circle of 'arty' friends. Pellerin was apparently a talented artist who worked as a janitor at a law office. He photographed the valuable paintings on display, forged them, replaced them, and sold the originals. Or so the story goes. The documentary has Deraspe searching on three continents for this phony artist with this phony name practising a phony life.

A first-time filmmaker, Deraspe has given us a rare treat of a film. It's absolutely brilliant in its execution, and the viewer is intrigued by the whole 'authenticity' of it all. If you find yourself laughing at the high (and even campy) drama of the characters, remember that you just might be laughing at yourself. This is a down-and-dirty example of art imitating life, and vice-versa, and Deraspe gives us a vivid view of how we can deluded into believing just about anything if it 'appears' to be legitimate.