Dupieux doesn’t seem interested in either vindicating or excoriating Yannick. Because the play he’s interrupted is a boorish, whimsical boulevard comedy, the kind whose audiences should probably expect a certain for-the-cheap-seats style of humor and melodrama. Later in the movie, it’s revealed that the building where the entire movie takes place is named Theatre Herbreteau, which is likely a nod to Paris’s real-life Théâtre Hébertrot. So when Yannick complains about how long his commute was—or how he only gets so much time off from his job as a car park attendant—he’s not setting the stage for a sympathetic backstory. More like a series of hard rug pulls. Imagine if Rupert Pupkin forced meek and maybe even masochistic theatergoers and performers to listen while he airs his personal grievances and also tries out some new material.
It’s also worth noting that Paul, Sophie, and William are only so likable, as we see from the early “Le Cocu” scene that Yannick interrupts. They melt down, preen, and laugh whenever Dupieux thinks it would be amusing to continue spinning things out, which is often. Yannick’s actions still don’t really prove or establish anything, especially in light of the movie’s hilariously grim conclusion, filmed in a static long take, as if to emphasize how long we’ve waited for that finale.
There’s never really enough information to see these characters as psychologically complex people. They’re more like sitcom characters or sketch comedy stock types since their personalities and mannerisms are mostly dependent on whatever the situation is chaotically becoming at any given moment. Dupieux doesn’t really care about closure, as many viewers already know if they’re going to see a movie because it says “Quentin Dupieux” on the poster. Everyone else should be forewarned that the jokes in “Yannick” are often on the viewers since so much time and effort has been devoted to frustrating our expectations.
If anything, the most consistent thing about “Yannick” is how unsustainable its tone and narrative is from scene to scene. Dupieux’s latest will either annoy or charm you depending on how much you appreciate being led around by the nose by a filmmaker and a cast of characters who seem pretty committed to jerking you around.
