Deerskin (French: Le Daim) is a 2019 dark comedy directed by Quentin Dupieux.
The plot concerns a man, Georges (Jean Dujardin), whose wife has separated from him. He ventures out and buys an expensive but rather ridiculous deerskin jacket in an attempt to make himself more cool. When his wife refuses to reconcile with him and puts a freeze on their bank account, he's left living out of a hotel, conning people for money while claiming to be a film director. As he grows increasingly obsessed over his deerskin attire, he becomes convinced that his deerskin jacket should be the only jacket in the world. An aspiring film editor Denise (Adèle Haenel) joins him on his movie project, little realizing that the bizarre behavior he films is not fiction.
This film provides examples of:
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: Georges grinds such a sharp edge into a ceiling fan blade that it can chop through skulls and slice through the roof of a car like butter.
- All Part of the Show: Denise doesn't seem to realize that Georges' movies are real. Or does she?
- Blatant Lies: Georges' lies about his production team in Siberia are comically implausible. Even though Denise questions him on the details, she goes along with them.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The weird staring kid returns in the final scene with his father.
- Comically Missing the Point: George sometimes answers questions in an absurdly literal manner. When a woman in a bar asks what he does, he responds that he's sitting in a bar drinking.
- Companion Cube: George develops a friendship with his deerskin jacket and talks to it. He supplies its responses back to him.
- Papa Wolf: The staring kid's father executes Georges with a rifle for throwing a rock at his son.
- Retro Universe: Some of the cars, cameras and screens look quite dated, though Georges' smartphone indicates that the film takes place at least fairly recently. Dupieux previously took this further in Keep an Eye Out!.
- Robbing the Dead: Georges takes a dead man's hat after discovering that it's 100% deerskin.
- Running Gag: Georges frequently refers to his "killer style" while admiring his deerskin attire. This becomes a literal description once he starts murdering people for wearing jackets.
- Shout-Out: To Albert Dupontel's Bernie (1996). George sharpens his fan blade against the road while driving.
- Taking Up the Mantle: A very literal example. Denise takes the deerskin jacket when George dies.
- Would Hurt a Child: George throws a rock at a child who was staring at him.
