About: A social media star, Magalie Moreau (Adèle Exarchopoulos) often shoots videos that go viral and keeps going to “test” various items that include her body as the test site. As a youngster, she began with some items that caught people’s attention, then gradually moved on to more shocking ones. She has vast numbers of views, fans, and, of course, a demand for more. Her viral video shoot with a piano ends up in an accident.
When the film begins, the audience sees something happen with a video that appears to be moved from one site to another. Shortly after this, Magalie is shown as taking time off from her “influencer” work, creating content for her followers. Patrick (Jérôme Commandeur), her longtime assistant, is driving her to a secluded mountain chalet. While it looks very lovely, she is also noted to have an unpleasant attitude towards Patrick or others who stare too long, assuming they recognize her. The solitude doesn’t last long, and she is frustrated by a journalist, Simone Herzog (Sandrine Kiberlain), who wants an exclusive interview. Magalie thinks she can handle all the unpleasantness as she has in the past, but the truth does not take long to surface.
Quentin Dupieux (Rubber, Deerskin) wrote and directed the film, as well as crafted the soundtrack under the name of Mr. Oizo (Dupieux’s musical alter ego). His talent as a cinematographer also provides excellent scenes of the mountains and the landscape.
Lead actress Adèle Exarchopoulos (Mandibles, Smoking Causes Coughing) is excellent in this role. She does a great job of portraying an influencer who seems to have lost touch with reality and thinks money will solve every problem that arises. It is easy to see her in this film and quickly dislike the character. I certainly did. “Living online” seems to cause individuals not to recall what the real world is like. This actress is great as this character!
I will try to avoid any spoilers about the film, but Magalie’s last performance went very wrong, thus the “vacation.” What she does not expect is to have anyone approach her with any knowledge of her previous performance and try to use it against her. At one point, the dark comedy becomes even darker as information surfaces, and it is hard to look away from all the action.
The Piano Accident screened at the 2025 edition of Fantastic Fest, which runs through September 25 in Austin, TX. It has additional screenings during the festival.
88-minute runtime