Deerskin (film)

Georges, 44, suddenly leaves his suburb to isolate himself in a mountain village. Before his arrival, he bought for more than €7,500 in cash the 100% deerskin fringe jacket of his dreams, which gave him a «killer style». In a commercial gesture, the seller also offers him a new digital camcorder of which he has no use.

Georges takes a hotel room but, without money, leaves his wedding ring as a deposit to the receptionist. He goes to a bar and sympathizes with Denise, the waitress, and a client accustomed by boasting of his jacket then by introducing himself as a filmmaker in tracing for a film. Denise is interested because she does amateur editing. The next day, Georges finds that he can no longer withdraw money, his account having been blocked by his estranged wife. At the same time, he develops an obsession for his deerskin jacket, giving it a voice and during his conversations, fantasizing about being the only person to own a jacket. Georges then begins to convince unknown people to film them giving up wearing a jacket and giving him the garment, under the pretext of essays for his film. During his travels, Georges is watched by a mute boy whom he spots and hunts, throwing a stone at his face. Denise is fascinated by the images and admits to Georges believing in his project to the point of participating in the financing of the film.

George's fantasy intensifies: he completes his outfit with a deerskin hat that he finds on the corpse of the hotel receptionist after his suicide, then by shoes, while amassing the jackets that he ends up burying. When, one night, a passerby refuses to give him his jacket because of the cold, Georges ends up killing him to get the jacket. He realizes after the fact that his jacket has blood stains and that Denise will see the images of a murder, but the editor believes in the final result and is enthusiastic. Georges will then find all those who didn't give him a jacket and kill them with a ceiling fan blade that he sharpened.

Denise asks for more images and, knowing that Georges lied from the beginning on his film, offers him to become his producer with her father's money. Relieved, Georges wants to mark the event by completing his outfit with a pair of deerskin gloves. Denise takes the camera and films Georges at the edge of a mountain road, pivoting on himself until the father of the mute boy shoots him in the head. Denise retrieves Georges' jacket on her body and continues filming.

In a mid-credits scene, Georges filming himself with his jacket as he approaches a herd of deer.

In March 2018, it was announced Jean Dujardin had joined the cast of the film, with Quentin Dupieux directing from a screenplay he wrote.[2]

It had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on 15 May 2019 in the Directors Fortnight section.[3][4] It was released in France on 19 June 2019 by Diaphana Distribution.[5] It went onto screen at the Toronto International Film Festival on 12 September 2019.[6][7] Prior to, Greenwich Entertainment and Picturehouse Entertainment acquired U.S. and U.K. distribution rights to the film.[8][9] It also screened at AFI Fest on 16 November 2019.[10]

It was scheduled to be released in the United States on 20 March 2020.[11] However, it was pulled from the schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[12] It is scheduled to be released in the United Kingdom on 5 June 2020.[13]

Deerskin holds a 87% approval rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 103 reviews, with a weighted average of 7.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Led by a daring performance from Jean Dujardin, Deerskin finds writer-director Quentin Dupieux working in a more accessible -- yet still distinctive -- vein."[14] On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 65 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[15]

• Official website
• Deerskin at IMDb 
• Deerskin at AllMovie