Reality (2014)

A wanna-be director is given 48 hours by a producer to find the best groan of pain, worthy of an Oscar, as the only condition to back his film.

Director:

Quentin Dupieux

Writer:

Quentin Dupieux

Stars:

Alain Chabat, Jonathan Lambert, Élodie Bouchez

2 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alain Chabat	...	Jason Tantra
Jonathan Lambert	...	Bob Marshall
Élodie Bouchez	...	Alice Tantra
Kyla Kenedy	...	Reality
Jon Heder	...	Dennis
Eric Wareheim	...	Henri
John Glover	...	Zog
Lola Delon	...	Zog's Assistant
Matt Battaglia	...	Mike
Susan Diol	...	Gaby
Erik Passoja	...	Billie
Jonathan Spencer	...	Blue
Bambadjan Bamba	...	Tony
Michel Hazanavicius	...	Award Presenter
Roxane Mesquida	...	Awards Hostess

Storyline

A wanna-be director is given 48 hours by a producer to find the best groan of pain, worthy of an Oscar, as the only condition to back his film.

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Plot Keywords:

dream sequence | multiple perspectives | sleeping in a car | watching a movie | movie theatre | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Diaphana Films [France]

Country:

France Belgium USA

Language:

French English

Release Date:

1 May 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

Reality

Company Credits

Production Co:

Realitism Films, Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC), Sofica Manon 2

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Thomas Bangalter, one half of the band duo Daft Punk, makes a cameo appearance as a patient reading a magazine.

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Goofs

When Alain Chabat is going to his car to sleep, we can see him lower the seat and preparing his pillow, when he woke up from his dream, the seat is up and the pillow is not there anymore.

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Connections

Referenced in Keep an Eye Out (2018)

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Soundtracks

Music with Changing Parts
Music by Philip Glass
(C) 1970 Dunvagen Music Publishers

User Reviews

One Heap of Contradictions

This is an incredibly odd film that basically occupies itself with contradicting everything you might expect. From the narrative structure of the film itself, down to the smallest details. A little girl's name is Reality yet she experiences things that can't possibly happen like seeing a videotape come out of a boar's stomach or her mother reading her a bedtime story that exactly recounts what happened to her that day. A cooking show host wears a rat costume (hygiene?), a french speaking producer has an American name (Bob Marshall), a starting director pitches the worst idea for a movie ever and says it took him four years to come up with it and the producer likes it but focuses on a very small detail. The movie is build on these types of contradictions, leading to funny scenes (the smoking scene is hilarious), but often to just plain absurdity.

Because the narrative structure of the movie itself is contradictory to what you as a viewer expect from a movie the whole thing stays enjoyable, literally anything can happen. In the end everything sort of works out and the story lines are tied in with each other in a way that makes sense. Not 'real' sense, but within the movie's logic (or lack thereof). I agree with another reviewer that one can't really compare this movie to anything else (maybe Dupieux earlier film Wrong), which makes grading it a tad difficult. On the whole I found it an incredibly amusing experience, though I can understand that other people might not. But if you are open minded about movies...

Step into the world of Realité, in which secretaries are creepy, you can go into work and discover that you are already there and if you decline a cigarette because you don't smoke, you will get one forced on you.