Magnolia at the Modern: Daaaaaalí!

“An endlessly creative vision of art and cinema.” —Elena Lazic, The Playlist

For journalist Judith Rochant (Anaïs Demoustier) the assignment to interview renowned artist Salvador Dalí is a great career opportunity–if only he would agree to sit still and answer a single question. What begins as a 15-minute conversation blows up into a bona fide cinematographic documentary portrait, provided the world’s most enormous cameras are available to film it. As Judith’s interview is delayed, detoured, and disrupted+ by Dalí’s inexhaustible self-regard, the journalist finds herself becoming the subject.

The legendary painter’s artistry and ego know no bounds, and Daaaaaalí! dutifully casts no less than five actors (Edouard Baer, Jonathan Cohen, Giles Lellouche, Pio Marmaï, and Didier Flamand) in this prismatic portrait of Dalí. The prolific writer-director Quentin Dupieux’s latest comedy is an exercise in dream logic and Surrealist homage, pulling the rug out from under you again and again before you can get up off the floor.

NR; 77 minutes; French and Spanish with English subtitles