«Thalasso», Houellebecq and Depardieu's therapy

Cinema Wednesdays - Jonas Follonier

In this new comedy from Guillaume Nicloux, Gérard Depadieu and Michel Houllebecq (the real deal) meet in a thalassotherapy establishment. Trivially philosophizing about universal things and rambling on about today's society, they try to cope with their cure as best they can. A film somewhere between a schoolboy documentary and an exercise in style.

Thalasso opens with French writer Michel Houellebecq (played by himself, i.e. a truly undead man) entering a thalassotherapy center. The institution doesn't really seem to please him. At the same time, having your testicles frozen can't be all that pleasant. Nor can being looked after by nurses talking to him like a child - which he isn't... really - or a sociopath - which he isn't... well, yes. Worse still, tobacco is banned, as is alcohol. And I'm not even going to mention the diet menus served there. Houellebecq then runs into another resident, also annoyed by this sort of health prison, a certain Gérard Depardieu.

It's hard to comment on this film, just as it's hard to know at the screening whether you like it or not. There's a kind of in-between empire in Thalasso. While this film is imbued with a certain realism, it is also at the same time on the edge of absurdity. Likewise, the story revolving around Houellebecq and Depardieu not only demonstrates a sense of self-mockery, but also a sense of the absurd. at the same time a certain egocentricity. You don't need to see Gérard's belly twenty-seven times. The same goes for Houellebecq's drooling mouth. But when he starts crying, persuading himself that «death doesn't exist», after a good drink with his alcolyte - in vino veritas - then we witness something very touching. Just like the look on Depardieu's face.

Read also: Gérard Depardieu, a woman who sings

A cinema marked by the Macronian «en même temps», then, although Michel Houllebecq says he should have run for president in 2017 after all. He didn't think «Macron it was going to break the mouth so fast» (sic). As for François Hollande, it is he who, according to the writer, commissioned its removal. This is absurdist humor, although many of the on-screen lines are undoubtedly well thought-out. «Finkielkraut, when he speaks on stage, I find him overwhelming.» In the end, it's interesting to see that Gérard Depardieu is more into questioning, observing and admiring, while Michel Houellebecq is clearly on the side of answers, however evasive they may be. Could this be the definition of actor and writer?

«The tragedy of growing old is that you stay young.»

Apart from some interesting music by Julien Doré and an unnecessary vulgar discussion about «an old cat», what else is left of Thalasso? Well, you'll undoubtedly leave the cinema with a certain tenderness for this duo of improvised friends, both weary of a society deemed liberticidal and lacking in transcendence. You'll also no doubt be amused by this therapy center, a veritable metaphor for a politically correct society in which no one is allowed to say or do anything. Amused, finally, by the contemporary (and above all ridiculous) cult of physical well-being, which our two stars seem to disdain in favor of the pursuit of happiness and pleasure, which are certainly more interesting. We have to agree with these two fascinating extraterrestrials, who we'd rather find in their usual artistic zone.

Write to the author: jonas.follonier@leregardlibre.com

Photo credit: © Xenix Films