At full speed: a comedy doped with the absurd [critique]

A wild fantasy over which hovers the assumed but never overwhelming influence of The Man from Rio.

We discovered Lucas Bernard in 2017 with A handsome thuga police comedy featuring an atypical little thug who is being followed by a pre-retired cop who is in no hurry to hang up. There was a fantasy in this film, a chiselled writing of characters and situations which dialogued with the cinema of Salvadori or Broca. With At full speedBernard persists and signs. With a predominantly romantic comedy this time over which, by its rhythm, its generosity and its permanent grain of madness hangs the shadow of The Man from Rio like American comedies of the great era (from Wilder to Operation petticoats by Blake Edwards). It all started with love at first sight, during a stopover, from a steward to a tactical submarine officer. A budding idyll brutally interrupted by the departure on a mission of the young woman whom her suitor will begin to follow… boarding the submarine, necessarily forbidden to civilians, for the start of a tour of the underwater world in mud closed. For 90 minutes, the adventures follow one another without any downtime, ignoring all realism. To play the absurd to this extent is obviously to take the risk of leaving people at the dock, of not always dosing correctly. At full speed is not free from these dross but nothing hinders its thunderous rhythm which suits Eye Haïdara and Pio Marmaï perfectly, whose very dog-cat complicity bursts the screen. New proof that something is moving in French comedy in 2024 after the successes of Again, The Last of the Jews Or The Coubertin Spirit.

By Lucas Bernard. With Pio Marmaï, Eye Haïdara, José Garcia… Duration 1h26. Released November 6, 2024