Daaaaaalí!
Release date: 2024-02-07
Votes: 310
Genres: Comedy, Fantasy, Drama
A young French journalist repeatedly meets iconic surrealist artist Salvador Dalí for a documentary project that never came to be.
Reviews
Brent Marchant
Biopics are among the most common films being made these days. Some are great, some are decent, and others are more than a little conventional, following rote formats so meticulously that they can turn out shallow or dull. But, when it comes to telling the story of someone wholly unconventional, someone larger than life and the embodiment of surrealistic sensibilities, the tried and true simply won’t work. And that’s certainly the case with enigmatic artist Salvador Dalí, whose unusual paintings nearly always defied description and classification. He was also a shameless self-promoter with an ego the size of the planet and a capricious personality as eccentric as his creations. He often spoke about himself in the third person and spouted statements that required those skilled in the cryptic arts to decipher. So, with a subject like this, a formula biography simply would not work. Fortunately, that’s precisely the thinking that writer-director Quentin Dupieux employed in coming up with this outrageously funny, eminently bizarre offering about a one-of-a-kind individual. In many ways, the film is a cinematic experiment in storytelling, enlivening its narrative in a manner as surreal as one of Dalí’s works. It’s rarely grounded in the straightforward, taking on dream-like qualities with running jokes, repeated but altered sequences and recurring characters that intertwine with one another in unexpected, truly out-there ways. The picture loosely follows the efforts of an aspiring journalist (Anaïs Demoustier) to secure an interview with her subject but who is routinely met with unrealistic, unforeseen obstacles (nearly always whimsically implemented by Dalí himself) in her attempts to pull it off. And, as the movie unfolds, it becomes impossible to follow any sense of reason in trying to figure out what’s going on and where it might be headed (so don’t even try). Instead, just sit back and enjoy the absurdity of it all – the very same attitude that one needs to employ when gazing upon one of the artist’s paintings. This highly fitting approach to telling Dalí’s story works brilliantly, especially coming from a filmmaker who has his own offbeat sensibilities about art, as seen in such prior releases as “Deerskin” (2019) and “Smoking Causes Coughing” 2022). In fact, “Daaaaaalí!” is so quirky and breaks the mold in so many ways that it even features five different actors (Edouard Baer, Jonathan Cohen, Gilles Lellouche, Pio Marmaï and Didier Flamand) portraying the protagonist. And, to his credit, the director thankfully keeps the runtime short at 1:18:00 so as not to overstay his welcome and let the innate joke become tiresome. Still, some might find this a frustrating offering to watch, but, if you’re willing to suspend logic and convention (as you’re clearly supposed to do), you’re likely to find that this hilarious little gem will tickle your funny bone in myriad, unanticipated ways. After all, if the film’s subject defies easy categorization, the last thing a director should do is needlessly confine him to a claustrophobic little box. And, fortunately, that’s exactly the pitfall this release successfully manages to avoid.
Movie Recommendation
Never Gonna Snow Again2021-03-18Zenia is an industrious Ukrainian migrant worker in Poland who makes house calls as a masseur to the needy and aspirational residents of a middle-class gated community near Warsaw. He is privy to all of their problems, anxieties and secrets – and something of an unwitting guru figure. Zenia’s grounded spirituality, apparent healing powers and broad shoulders make him an object of lust for many of the lost souls in the community.More...
The Bakery Girl of Monceau1963-01-01Early new wave effort from Rohmer, which was the first of his six moral tales. It concerns a young man who approaches a girl in the street, but after several days without seeing her again, he becomes involved with the girl in the local bakery. Eventually, he has to choose between them when he arranges dates with them on the same day.More...
Icarus2022-03-30On the island of Crete, a day-dreamy boy named Icarus befriends a mysterious creature with the body of a man and the head of a bull named Asterion (aka the Minotaur). When the King asks Icarus’ father, a famous inventor, to work on a secret project, Icarus realizes his new friend is in danger.More...
Les Misérables1982-10-20In 19th century France, Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a relentless policeman named Javert. The pursuit consumes both men's lives, and soon Valjean finds himself in the midst of the student revolutions in France.More...
At Play in the Fields of the Lord1991-12-06Martin and Hazel Quarrier are small-town fundamentalist missionaries sent to the jungles of South America to convert the Indians. Their remote mission was previously run by the Catholics, before the natives murdered them all. They are sent by the pompous Leslie Huben, who runs the missionary effort in the area but who seems more concerned about competing with his Catholic 'rivals' than in the Indians themselves. Hazel is terrified of the Indians while Martin is fascinated. Soon American pilot Lewis Moon joins the Indian tribe but is attracted by Leslie's young wife, Andy. Can the interaction of these characters and cultures, and the advancing bulldozers of civilization, avoid disaster?More...
The Silent Forest2022-10-27As a forestry student doing an internship, Anja Grimm ends up in that remote area in the Upper Palatinate Forest, where she went on vacation with her parents as an eight-year-old girl and her father disappeared without a trace. Her job is to take soil samples to create a soil map. At one point in the forest floor she comes across abnormal irregularities. Not long after their arrival, a brutal murder occurs. Anja soon arouses suspicion and hostility not only among the villagers with her suspicion that the perpetrator knows something about her father's fate and with her questions about the atypical soil composition in the forest clearing. Even the police react extremely reservedly to their investigations. And when it turns out that the young woman can read the signs of the forest like an open book, forces mobilize in the village who are apparently ready for anything because there is a dark secret that needs to be kept.More...
Our Men2021-10-06They come from all over the world but they have one thing in common : The Foreign Legion, their new family. Our Men tells these stories : stories of women who struggle to keep their love fire burning; stories of men who leave for battle; stories of loving couples on hostile ground.More...
Alice Guy, the First Female Filmmaker2021-11-20Who, apart from moviegoers, knows Alice Guy (1873-1968) today? However, she was the first woman behind the camera and the first female director and producer of fiction films in history.More...
The Burdened2023-08-11When Isra’a discovers she is expecting another baby amid the civil war in Yemen, she and her husband decide she should have an abortion. But this creates enormous difficulties – in their relationship and elsewhere. A moving story from an all-too-often forgotten crisis region.More...
The Irish Pub2013-10-04A eulogy to the greatest institution in Irish society, the pub, or more specifically the traditional Irish publicans who run them. Speaking to pub owners all over Ireland, Alex Fegan gets into the heart of what makes "the Irish pub" the institution that it is.More...
Sans Un Mot2024-12-07There is no descriptionMore...
Winter in Sokcho2025-01-08In the snowy seaside town of Sokcho, 25-year-old Soo-Ha works at a guesthouse. She drifts between her mother’s fish stall and her boyfriend until a French artist’s arrival stirs questions about her identity. As winter deepens, Soo-Ha and the artist form an unspoken connection through food and art.More...
Yannick2023-08-02In the middle of a performance of the play "Le Cocu", a bad boulevard comedy at a Parisian theatre, Yannick gets up and interrupts the show to take the evening back in hand.More...
Michel Vaillant2003-11-08Michel Vaillant is # 1 of pilots, undisputed champion in rallying in all circuits in the world. His success arouses admiration and envy. Ruth Wong, director of Team Leader, is determined to break his streak and avenge the memory of his father, founder of Leader. She is capable of anything to achieve her goal.More...
The Big Night2012-06-06An ageing punk-with-a-dog and his brother the conformist decide to get their revenge on a shopping mall. Directing duo Benoit Delepine and Gustave Kervern, longstanding comic crusaders against capitalism, again set out to surprise and shock the bourgeois audience.More...
Bloody Oranges2021-11-17Simultaneously, a retired couple overwhelmed by debt tries to win a dance contest, as the minister of economy is suspected of tax evasion, and a teenage girl encounters a sexual maniac, while a young lawyer attempts to climb the social ladder. When the shoe drops, the winner won’t necessarily be the one we expected.More...
Je ne suis pas un héros2023-11-22Louis is a super nice guy. But in his lawyer's office, this is not a compliment. When his doctor wrongly diagnoses a serious disease, his colleagues behaviour changes : they care about him, they ask him questions and they listen his answers. Finally, Louis exists ! So, obviously, he hesitates over telling the truth.More...
Sidonie in Japan2024-01-11Sidonie Perceval, an established French writer, is mourning her deceased husband. Invited to Japan for the reedition of her first book, she is welcomed by her local editor who takes her to Kyoto, the city of shrines and temples. As they travel together through the Japanese spring blossoms, she slowly opens up to him. But the ghost of her husband follows Sidonie: she will have to finally let go of the past to let herself love again.More...
Fear and Trembling2003-03-12Amélie, a young Belgian woman, having spent her childhood in Japan, decides to return to live there and tries to integrate in the Japanese society. She is determined to be a "real Japanese" before her year contract runs out, though it precisely this determination that is incompatable with Japanese humility. Though she is hired for a choice position as a translator at an import/export firm, her inability to understand Japanese cultural norms results in increasingly humiliating demotions. Though Amelie secretly adulates her, her immediate supervisor takes sadistic pleasure in belittling her all along. She finally manages to break Amelie's will by making her the bathroom attendant, and is delighted when Amelie tells her the she will not renew her contract. Amelie realizes that she is finally a real Japanese when she enters the company president's office "with fear and trembling," which could only be possible because her determination was broken by Miss Fubuki's systematic torture.More...
Boléro2024-03-06Boundary-pushing Russian dancer and actress Ida Rubinstein selects renowned French composer Maurice Ravel to compose the music for her next ballet. Ravel ends up creating his greatest success ever: Boléro.More...
Similar Movies
Rajakili
2024-12-27A God fearing multi-millionaire gets his life in shambles and becomes mentally & physically challenged after an entanglement with two other women apart from his first wife.The Martyr of Calvary...
1952-04-02The life of Jesus from the beginning of his ministry, his miracles, the Sermon on the Mount and his death on the cross.Habibie & Ainun
2012-12-12Habibie wanted to unite Indonesia by designing airplanes. He met his soulmate and underwent his struggle to become the 3rd president of Indonesia.Muganga
2025-09-24Denis Mukwege, a Congolese doctor, pastor and future Nobel Peace Prize laureate, meets Guy Cadière, a Belgian surgeon and atheist. Despite their differences, they unite for a common purpose: to restore the bodies and dignity of thousands of women who have been used as weapons of war in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.Gayong
2025-05-08Biography about the late great Dato' Meor Abd Rahman, grandmaster and founder of Silat Gayong Malaysia.Saint Rita
2004-09-26Cascia, 14th century, Rita Liotti falls in love, gets married and has two children. Her dream of love is soon hindered by a masculine and violent society, that Rita faces with peace and forgiveness. When she loses her husband and her children, she understands she has a mission: pursuing her path of peace, that will lead her to take the vows, and then to become Saint. Rita is a Saint of these days, who lived in a very violent age and was so brave to break free from the vengeance chain, through a deep, sincere and christian forgiveness. She is a particular Saint, talking to everybody’s hearts, as she was everything. She was a daugher, a wife, a mother and a nun, she experienced every sort of life, and in all her different lives she was a living model of christian life.Niki
2024-10-09French-American artist Niki de Saint-Phalle, from the age of 23, is a model and an aspiring actor who is married and has a two year old daughter. Together, they flee the U.S. during the oppressive McCarthy era and come to France, where they experience a short-lived euphoria. Soon, distant and frightening memories begin to emerge in Niki’s mind. Her vocation as an artist will be her salvation.Dumas: Black Devil
2027-10-13Thomas Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie Dumas was born a Caribbean slave in 1762 and beat the odds by rising through the ranks to become a revolutionary French general. The son of a nobleman, Marquis Alexandre Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie, and an African slave, Marie-Cessette Dumas, he became the first and highest-ranking Black leader in the French military and served under Napoleon Bonaparte. But despite his many exploits, which earned him the nickname of “Black Devil,” his role in the French Revolution was underplayed and he was even denied a full pension and legion of honor by Bonaparte.Zegen
1987-06-02At the time between the World Wars, Japan is involved in empire-building throughout East and Southeast Asia. After a brief career as a low-level military adventurer, Iheiji sets up chains of brothels throughout Asia. As Japan's power in the region grows, so does Iheiji's prosperity and patriotism.Believe: The Ultimate...
2025-07-24The son of a veteran named Agus was faced with the shadow of his father's absence, so he grew up to be an undisciplined child. Until the veteran died and made his son follow in his father's footsteps to enter the military world.Karoline Augusta Anto...
2024-11-10Born into a family of farmers in the mid-19th century, Karoline Augusta Antonsen moves to a nearby industrial city in her late teens, driven by the dream of building a large family and owning a big house. This short film follows her journey of hope, and her struggle to survive in a tough economy. Will she achieve her lifelong ambition or will her story end in tragedy?Komang
2025-03-31Fate brought together Ode, a young man from Buton with big dreams, and Ade, a wanderer from Bali. Like two souls in love, they believed that fate would one day unite them. However, their journey was hindered by the presence of another man who shared the same faith as Ade, and Ode had to go to Jakarta to pursue his dreams. Will fate ultimately bring Ode and Ade together?Untitled Ettore Bugat...
No data for this movieSet to tell the life story of Ettore Bugatti, the founder of the iconic automobile company, who was known for transforming the automotive world with his creative genius and relentless dedication to design and technology. The Italian-born French designer and manufacturer also designed aeroplane engines and was no stranger to tragedy: Bugatti’s son, Jean, was killed on 11 August 1939 at the age of 30 while testing a Bugatti car near the family’s factory HQ in Germany.Miroslava
1993-04-03The beautiful and popular movie star Miroslava is depressed tonight. As she prepares her suicide, her entire life is revealed on screen in a disturbing portrait of a lonely woman.Lafran
2024-06-20A biopic about the founder of the Himpunan Mahasiswa Islam (Islamic Student Association), Lafran Pane in building the Islamic Students Association (HMI). The national and Islamic values instilled by Lafran became the foundation for HMI in contributing to Indonesia.Evel Knievel on Tour
No data for this movieBiopic about American stunt performer and entertainer Evel Knievel, best known for his motorcycle jumps (and bad temper). The story is set in a single year, 1974, and tackles Knievel’s ambitious planning to jump across Idaho’s Snake River on his motorcycle.Soloz: Game of Life
2025-01-23The fierce competition between The Boss and the team from Singapore, Vengeance, which teaches Soloz and his teammates the value of friendship, sportsmanship and healthy competition that are the foundation of success.Men's Games
1992-01-01The group of stuntmen comes to the beach to shoot an adventure film. Guys are training all day long, polishing their skills. One of the stuntmen witnessed two men pursuing the girl. He saves her from bullies, and the fugitive finds protection and patronage in the crew. However, a woman's behaviour is strange: she keeps having nightmares, she's afraid of something or someone, but refuses to explain what was going on. Men realize that their new friend is hiding something ...By Player
2000-12-02The film is a series of vignettes from Taiji Tonoyama's life and film clips, interspersed with a dialogue to camera by Nobuko Otowa, addressing the camera as if she is addressing Tonoyama himself, recollecting events in his life. The film focuses on Tonoyama's alcohol dependence and his various sexual relationships, as well as his film work with Shindo.Chandu Champion
2024-06-149 bullet wounds (one still in the body), three different sports and an unshakable determination to fulfill the dream of an Olympic Gold later, Muralikant Petkar, India's first Paralympian to finish at the top of the podium, got the recognition by his own country 45 years after he achieved what no athlete from his country could.