Is the tantrum of the disabled child at the seaside café any more disruptive than the firecrackers that Quinquin and his gang regularly throw? Many people in a Dumont film have odd physical or character traits but these are accepted not exploited. With a large cast of unusual characters it feels to me as if Mr Dumont is asking society 'what is normal?' We see the character Dany Lebleu spinning around until he falls to the ground ( an idea generated by the actor himself Jason Cirot – so much for exploitation!) but there are many scenes where this movement is mirrored by the supposedly more able- bodied.

Both love/desire an unobtainable woman.Īgain Mr Dumont makes use of disabled people in his cast but he refuses to be a hypocrite and treat these people with sickly sentimentality instead allowing them to appear as distinct individuals. Both need to feel the warm flesh of animals, Pharaon with the sow at litter and der Weyden with the horses. In L'Humanite Pharaon hugs the killer as if to take away his guilt and in 'Quinquin' der Weyden allows himself to hug his Lieutenant. Both need the warmth of physical contact. Both detectives appear to be overwhelmed by the sadness of the horror of what they have witnessed. The bizarre but oddly lovable Commandant der Weyden is incompetent but highly proactive compared with Pharaon de Winter's impassivity in 'L'Humanite'. Thus we have the tracking shots in country lanes from 'La Vie De Jesus', the unconventional ( to say the least!) detective from 'L'Humanite', the farming community from 'Flanders', the religious conflicts from 'Hadewijch' the pervasive presence of a possible evil force/the Devil from 'Hors Satan' and quietly disturbing and unsettling moments of orifices, death and nakedness when we all lie exposed and ready to return to the soil. To those familiar with Mr Dumont's earlier films the themes in Quinquin are consistent with his previous films – racial and economic tension that results in violence, good and evil and moral responsibility, Christianity, Islam and Pantheism, right wing politics, the media etc and a setting in the Northern France coastal and rural communities that will also be familiar from his earlier films.Īt times 'Quinquin' almost feels self referential from Mr Dumont's earlier work. Yet even amongst what at times is a 'slapstick' level of humour Dumont's humanity still forms the foundations of this film. I confess that I never thought that Mr.Dumont would be able to overlay his unique cinematic vision with humour but he has succeeded and I laughed out loud on many occasions. Reviewed by kboote 10 / 10 The laughter and tears of human existence

Camille claudel 2013 trrent