Unbelievable but true: “We were asked if it was a digital trick”

Quentin Dupieux's film with Alain Chabat and Léa Drucker can be (re)watched on Arte.

Spoiler alert: this article is to be read AFTER watching Unbelievable but true. The funny movie of Quentin Dupieux will be broadcast on Arte at 8:55 p.m.

In October 2022, its DVD release was accompanied by a commentary recorded by its creator. The opportunity to learn more about this new film “high concept” from the director of Rubber, At the Post! And The Fallow Deer (a couple moves into a new house, a trapdoor of which offers them exceptional possibilities), which he presents as a “a minimalist, effect-free science fiction film.”

During this audio commentary, Dupieux details precisely how he created certain effects, dwelling at length on certain scenes, the choice of cameras, focal lengths, specific choices of tracking shots or his wish to shoot an entire sequence without any dialogue… Explanations that will delight fans of his cinema, but Beware of spoilers : the following revelations are directly linked to the twists ofUnbelievable but true (yes, plural, because this pipe is not the only one that hides secrets).

Unbelievable but true is also on Première Max

Explaining that he had “really want to find again Alain Chabat eight years later Reality“and that he dreamed of working with Lea Drucker (“an actress I really like”), Quentin Dupieux admits straight away that it was they who made him want to make this film: “This couple led me to this conduit” he jokes.

He then imagined this story of a trapdoor hidden in the house allowing its inhabitants to jump back in time by a few hours, while rejuvenating by three days each time they dive in. A concept that will make the heroine completely addicted: dreaming of becoming young and beautiful again, she will get lost there, to the point of regaining her former appearance, while her husband refuses to follow her, and continues to age alongside her.

At the end of the film, the character of Léa Drucker is thus embodied by another actress, Roxane Arnalseen before that in The Kings of the World Or Mrs. Hyde. “A lot of people asked us if it was a digital trick, details the screenwriter and director when she looks at herself in the mirror and her new face appears. While it's clearly another actress! Roxane completely succeeded in embodying Léa, we had the impression of being with her, it was very disturbing. She hung around on the set for several days before filming, to observe her, to imitate her gestures: for example, the way she goes down the pipe is exactly the same as hers.”

Alain Chabat among others: Cursed Lawn, Lend Me Your Hand, Reality…

In addition to this undeniable physical resemblance, the young actress is at the heart of the most symbolic scene in the film. When she opens her hand and ants appear in it, she understands that she is just like the apple she took with her into the duct: rejuvenated on the outside but rotten on the inside.

A tribute to the Andalusian dogby Luis Buñuel, a surrealist work that is openly a source of inspiration for Dupieux: “It was clearly a little bridge to Dali and Buñuel. It may seem pompous, but it's a key to the film. It helped me finish it. Especially this idea of ​​cheating with nature, and the punishment (that results from it). The idea of ​​rotting from the inside… In The Andalusian Dogthis idea made no sense, since it was a nightmare scene. But it helped me to conclude, found meaning in me.”

After this striking shot, the camera stops for a moment on his acting partner, Alain Chabat, who has also understood the moral of the story, then the image becomes blurred and the film ends. Dupieux concludes with this promise: “See you soon, since I'm not going to stop making films.” Indeed, since Unbelievable but true are out Smoking makes you cough, Yannick And The Second Act.

Here is its trailer:

Our review (with spoilers) of Unbelievable but True