"Coupez" or "Final Cut" or "Final Cut of the Dead" here in Germany is a new film that can mostly be seen as French, even if the UK, United States and Japan are also credited as production countries and there are even minor segments in Japanese. With the British and American component, I am not too sure here, but the Japanese surely has to do with this film being closely linked to a Japanese horror comedy from a few years ago. Maybe you can even call it a remake. The fact that they used Japanese first names for the protagonists in here was maybe even a bit of a tribute to the original. They joked about it too because almost nobody in the film was happy with the Japanese first names, so one could wonder why they were even chosen here. Of course, the two writers from the original film are also credited here, so the connection is really significant. Anyway, if we look at the basics first, it can be said that this was written and directed by Michel Hazanavicius and I am sure that the vast majority of people thinks first of "The Artist" if they think of something at all, but that movie is surely gonna stay the man's career-defining work for the rest of his days. It is a bit of a pity that he did not really work on Hollywood films afterwards, but also not a tragedy. At least he keeps working. His significant other is Bérénice Bejo and she is also in this movie here again and plays one of the more significant female characters. By the way, literally all the females in here were absolutely stunning. That cannot be a coincidence, well maybe except the main character's daughter and perhaps also the woman with the baby, but she brought in decent comic relief in that scene and I had to laugh for sure when we hear the baby cry and cause further stress during the rehearsal. Speaking of the daughter though, I think the moment when she grabs the phone to pull through with her idea to save the movie and how the ones in the room react to it immediately after as they are fully convinced was maybe the weakest moment from the film if I had to pick one. The only scene where it felt fairly unrealistic to me, but I understand in retrospect that they were going for the full-on happy ending of course, so cancellation was not an option.
Anyway, the male lead is Romain Duris, one of France's most famous actors and for quite some time now, even if he also has not really managed a breakthrough in America unlike others. But he is really handsome and you cannot look any better I guess when close to the age of 50. I think I have seen him so far mostly in films that had a romantic component to them, so maybe that is what he is most known for. At least this is where I have come across him the most so far. There is a really nice film with Audrey Tautou for example in his body of work, but with this new movie here he shows us that he is versatile in terms of other characters as well. He plays a film director who has to give it his all to make sure his newest movie really comes into existence. So many obstacles to overcome, actors not showing up because of a car accident, sober actors having a relapse, actors having diarrhea the exact moment when the film is shot etc. But the film director really in charge of all this is Hazanavicius of course. I read in the summary before viewing the movie that this is a rare example of film on film on film and it is true. I like this description. A lot actually, even if there's probably better ways to put it, but I keep it short. In any case, Hazanavicius was playing here with us in the audience too because he showed us the film the people in this movie were shooting on two occasions: The first was what the movie in end actually looked like, so the final outcome of the production and this was included at the beginning and there we thought that these events were actually happening. That the crew members really turned into zombies and that almost everybody died, most of all Duris' character at the center of the story. The middle part that follows takes us into the months and days before the actual shooting. And the finale, probably not right to call it this with how long it was, then shows us the exact same scenes from the beginning, but now from the perspective of the film crew and how really all of it is staged and nobody is really hurt and really injured.
Actually, you kinda feel or at least think that there must be something happening to somebody in here and you even wait for it to happen until the las moment when you see really everybody is safe there and the director finally gets to rest in the light of the incredible result he has achieved here. Overcome all the obstacles. I thought that perhaps he would be really dead in the end as he is the one who dies last in the movie, but nope. They are just spilling blood up there that it looks like as if the actress from the horror film they are shooting really stabs him there. One idea in-between towards the end then is also that Bejo's character loses her sanity and actually kills somebody because she is too much in character. This was implied and definitely an option, but there Hazanavicius was playing with us again. He was also definitely toying with us because she here also plays the significant other of the film director at the center of the story and on one occasion towards the end, he mocks Bejo and himself a bit when he has Duris's character says something along the lines of that she is sometimes a real toughie. Definite tongue-in-cheek moment there that is even more memorable if you know about the romantic connection there. Anyway, in the end you can say that Hazanavicius just made a realistic film that is maybe more of a comedy than a drama because nobody really gets hurt and moments like the guy falling to alcoholism there are also kept relatively light and not in-depth from a drama perspective. Most of all, this is not actually a zombie movie. There are no real zombies in this film. Something I found entertaining too was how they included some big names from the movie industry. Who was it the daughter was talking early on? Scorsese and Coppola. Tarantino is later on referenced on her pretty cool shirt. We find out that one character here is considered the French Adam Driver and he clearly thinks very highly of himself as an actor. I like Driver, but this is maybe too much praise at this point. The scene in which she makes it difficult for her father on one occasion because she wants to get a kid into method acting and the mother intervenes was pretty funny.
There are several other funny moments, also how Duris' character reacts when he gets the initial suggestion to shoot this zombie movie we have here. That it is supposed to be live and run for half an hour and everything has to go great. You will surely laugh quite a bit during this film. It includes many smart and funny zombie references, like how it is never a good idea to separate yourself from the group as we have it with one character who decides to leave the room early on to smoke a cigarette, but then stays inside for a few moments longer before he actually goes outside to pull through with his plan. The real reasons for this were of an entirely different nature though as we then see towards the end when we see what is going on outside. Or take the moment with how long the camera stays on the lead actress almost at the end of the movie they are filming because they have to take care of some other stuff and she keeps screaming there. Or just the idea how we think that Duris' character is a real lunatic and psychopath there at the beginning when actually it was all staged and part of the film in the film. Of course, there is still some improvisation going on. So yeah, I liked the watch and I think this is a good film overall and a pretty creative achievement as a whole. I am glad I went to see it. The duration of over 110 minutes including credits feels right too and I would not have cut more than ten minutes here, maybe only five. It did not drag.
Maybe I would have done without the human pyramid towards the end, which did not feel as effective and memorable as I would have liked it to be, but then again if we think about how we do not see it early on when the final shot is filmed, it was alright too. There is even this brief inclusion with the guy bringing the ladder way too late after the closing credits that made this pyramid scene a bit more special eventually, so it is good that it was included as well. I am convinced. I am surely glad to see that the French Film Awards (Césars) gave some attention to this one. It was not a lot, but the screenplay nod is deserving and the music was decent too. The latter came from Alexandre Desplat by the way, a real mastermind from his branch with a body of work as impressive as it gets. Before I end the review, I will give two more mentions that I found funny, namely how the French Adam Driver is referring to Lars and I think this was supposed to imply von Trier and how he worked with him and maybe the funniest moment(s) for me when there is some sound coming from the background that implies tension and a critical, possibly dangerous situation and then Duris' character says something that the guy should stop it and it was the sound technician from the movie they were shooting. Hilarious stuff. Another example of how Hazanavicius let out all his comedic creativity here. I say you should go watch his work for sure. The positive recommendation from me here was never in doubt and the good here is so much more frequent then the forgettable. Thumbs-up.
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