Adieu les Cons: Review

2nd June 2021

Released for the first time in 2020 before the closure of theaters in France, “Adieu les cons” (Bye Bye Morons in English), directed by Albert Dupontel, was a success with the critics but also with the public. The film received 7 Césars last March, including Best Film and Best Director, and is now one of the flagship film of the reopening of theaters in France.

Albert Dupontel, mainly known for his film Bernie (1996) or for his role in Gaspard Noé’s Irreversible (2002), also recently shined with his film Au revoir là-haut (2017), a historical film about the consequences of the war, which won 5 Césars including Best Director. We also talked about him in 2017 when he announced his refusal to go to ceremonies dedicated to the cinema. He said that he was “perplexed by this kind of intellectual judgment” and had therefore decided to step aside.

In “Adieu les cons’” we follow two main characters, Suze Trappet (played by Virginie Efira) and Jean-Baptiste Cuchas (played by Albert Dupontel). One is suffering from an autoimmune disease that attacks her bronchial tubes and the other is planning to commit suicide after a burn-out. Suze Trappet has only one desire left, to find her daughter whom she was forced to abandon when she was fifteen. Her meeting with Jean-Baptiste Cuchas, allows her to get past the heaviness and slowness of the bureaucracy.

The strength of this film is, as Virginie Efira says, that “it can have several readings” and that it will therefore suit a large majority of the public. The first reading is composed of an adventure intermingled with scenes ranging from the burlesque to the tragic.

Then we have a second reading, which remains very accessible, which proposes a reflection on the society, on the shortcomings of technology but also on its potential benefits, on the social relationships at work and on the transformation and the loss of identity of our cities. However, the story of the adventure is not realistic in the strict sense of the word, there are scriptural facilities, but if you have managed to get into the film and into the world of Albert Dupontel, these facilities will not be a problem, we do not expect to attend a logical and realistic story but to a story who is more like a tale or a poetry.

During this quest of Suze and Jean-Baptiste, Albert Dupontel will make us meet endearing characters, sometimes annoying but always very interesting and well-worked.

We find Nicolas Marié who plays Sergeant Blin, a blind man who will also have a major role in this adventure, Jackie Berroyer who plays a former doctor, who is now suffering from alzheimer’s disease. Virginie Efira confirms that she is one of the most brilliant French actresses of her generation. She fits perfectly into the particular universe of Albert Dupontel. She will be the lead actress in Paul Verhoeven’s next film “Benedetta” which will be released in 2021, and this promises only good things.

Thanks to its characters, its direction and its narrative, the film alternates between different emotions, from laughter to sadness. But we can feel a great wave of melancholy, which asks us about the passage of time, the choices we make and will make throughout our lives. It’s a reflection on our existence, our place in society and the role we want to play in it.

Albert Dupontel confirms with “Adieu les cons” that he is a complete director and a very talented actor who masters his universe to perfection.

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