13/02/2022 - BERLINALE 2022: In his new film, the French director has a secret, and he is going to keep it

There is something odd in the basement of a dream house in Incredible but True [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Quentin Dupieux
film profile], as long-time couple Alain (Alain Chabat) and Marie (Léa Drucker) are about to find out. One of them embraces the mystery, while the other couldn’t care less. However, they will both feel the results. We talked to director Quentin Dupieux about his movie, shown as a Berlinale Special Gala screening.

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Cineuropa: We can always count on you to deliver something completely different, but this film feels a bit sadder than your usual fare.
Quentin Dupieux: I am not sure if I would say sadder, but it’s probably deeper than usual, even though I still see it as a comedy. Maybe because the subject itself is more serious, as is what these two are going through as a couple. But even in my giant-fly movie [Mandibles [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Quentin Dupieux
film profile]], there were some pretty complex aspects at play, at least once you looked at it from a certain perspective.

It’s funny to think there is this weird thing in your house and one person just decides to ignore it. Usually, it’s like it was with Narnia – if there’s a magical portal, you go through it. Alain goes: “No, thank you.” Why did you want to have a character like this?
Probably because I would have said the exact same thing. That would have been my approach all along – I just wouldn’t go there! Alain is probably the character I like the most because I feel the same way. I would maybe do it one time, just to check it out, and then get on with my life. Having two characters who don’t approach this problem in the exact same way adds to the humour of the film, but this whole concept of disturbing life’s natural process… Personally, I just wouldn’t like it. If you interfere with it too much, some things will always go wrong. Take fruits – we want them to be bigger and better, but what does it do to the environment? Or when they try to clone sheep?! It’s wrong, so let’s try not to go there.

Do you see it as a story about control? We lose it when we grow older, when our bodies start failing us more often than not. Marie is certainly experiencing it, and so is Alain’s boss, who decides to “exchange” his penis for its electrical equivalent.
They both have the same problem: they are afraid of getting old. For some men, getting old means they can no longer perform in bed. That’s why so many 70-year-olds are popping those blue pills all the time. They want to get hard again, no matter what, which sounds ridiculous to me. There is this fear of being perceived as a broken machine that’s no longer working, in a way. Marie wants to be pretty, to become a model – it’s really about vanity. He is pretending to be so “macho”, but he is actually very insecure, constantly looking for other people’s approval. Even with the perfect dick, he is still not confident. He might not be a good person, but you still feel sorry for him because of that. Actually, I am sure this guy exists in real life: he is out there somewhere.

Many would certainly like to do what he’s doing. Maybe we are just too polite to say how we feel about certain things? It’s like the dinner scene in your film – nobody tells him that having a penis that you can steer is weird.
Yes, you can’t do that. If it makes you feel any better, go for it. I am not judging anyone. But to me, changing who we are, especially to such an extent, is just scary. Many men my age have this fear of going bald, for example. Some of them try hair transplants, which I understand, but there is also something disturbing about “planting” new hair on your head. It’s as weird as having fake tits. In my first film [Steak [+see also:
trailer
film profile]], there were these characters with radical facelifts. That’s when I don’t understand this world any more – when people do these kinds of things. You do it to make yourself feel a bit better, but then you forget about the others. And they are the ones who have to live with a monster later on.

You never explain anything in your films. Incredible but True is no exception: they enter the house, hear about the passage and that’s about it. They – or we – never find out how it got there in the first place.
When I did Rubber [+see also:
trailer
film profile], about this living tyre, the only question I had in my mind when I wrote it was: “Should I explain it?” Should I try to explain why the tyre is alive? But if you do, if you explain too much, suddenly it turns into a terrible movie. You lose all the magic because no matter what you do, it will always sound stupid.

Kids see the world like this, don’t they? They see something crazy and don’t question it.
Yes, they just accept it. Maybe I am a kid as well.