In the middle of a performance of the play “Le Cocu”, a very bad boulevard comedy, Yannick gets up and interrupts the show to take the evening back in hand.

The unique Quentin Dupieux seems to be becoming more prolific with age, as his latest movie (at least in UK release terms) ‘Yannick’ is his 4^th movie to be released in the last couple of years. This one is relatively short by movie standards (as most Dupieux movies tend to be), clocking in at a mere 67 minutes and receiving a UK release to streaming via MUBI. It is unexpectedly a black comedy that satirises the theatre experience, actors and patrons alike, through the prism of a heckler called Yannick (Raphaël Quenard) who interrupts the play and takes those present hostage.

‘Yannick’ takes place almost entirely within a Parisian theatre where three actors are performing a comedy play called ‘Le Cocu’ (or ‘The Cuckold’ in English) to a half empty room. Yannick is unimpressed with the performance and chooses to interrupt the performers to complain that the play was bad, and as he’d spent over an hour to get here and taken a day off, this wasn’t good enough. He doesn’t find much sympathy on the stage or in the audience, so when asked to leave, he makes a decision to come back in, only this time with a gun and a demand – to allow him to rewrite and ‘improve’ the play, then re-perform it.

Ironically for a movie that satirises art and the pretentiousness of the theatre experience, this movie feels a little half baked and doesn’t really have enough ideas to sustain its short runtime. Beyond the initial premise and absurdity of Yannick breaking social norms to disturb the play, I felt Dupieux didn’t really have much else to say or do with this idea. I liked the performances and there is some good dialogue, particularly as Yannick muses that he sees little difference between the audience being held hostage by a gun or by the need to sit still and endure the play for the same length of time, but it’s a little too sporadic to make ‘Yannick’ wholly satisfying.

Rating: 3/5

Directed By: Quentin Dupieux

Starring: Raphaël Quenard, Pio Marmaï, Blanche Gardin, Sébastien Chassagne, Agnès Hurstel, Jean-Paul Solal and Laurent Nicolas

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt28236368/