DVD Review: Playing Dead

Playing Dead is a delightful film about a once-accomplished actor who is now struggling and so accepts a job helping the police with crime scene re-enactments. It stars Francois Damiens as Jean Renault, whose name, as another character points out, sounds like Jean Reno (at one point, a man holds a sign at the train station which reads “Jean Reno,” leading Jean to quip, “I’m sorry if you were expecting The Professional”).

The film opens with police at a crime scene, but soon it’s revealed that it is a film set. Jean Renault is being difficult, nitpicking about a detail. The director doesn’t fire him, but it’s clear she’ll never work with him again. His agent then has a talk with him. Jean argues on his own behalf: “I’m always on time, always willing, always full on. I know my characters, my lines.” His agent interrupts: “You always argue! You’re a royal pain. Nobody wants to work with you.” The agent also points out that Jean is constantly being edited out of projects. Jean turns humble, saying in almost a whisper, “I’m not a pain.” And it’s that moment that we begin to care about this guy, even to like him.

In addition to now being out of work, Jean is divorced and having a bit of trouble pitching in money for the raising of his two children. He needs seven more work days to qualify for benefits, and so the woman at the employment agency offers him a job playing victims for re-enactments of murders. His first assignment sends him to a ski resort in the Alps.

I like the rapport between Jean and Lieutenant Lamy (Lucien Jean-Baptiste), the police officer who collects him at the train station. And Jean is candid about his career, his mistakes, telling Lamy and his wife that fame came to him too early. “I got conceited, and turned down some very big projects.” The film does a very good job of making it believable that directors wouldn’t want to work with him, while also making him likeable.

Quickly Jean becomes interested in the case. Because Jean is approaching this job as he would any acting role, including researching the part, he both irritates the police and also brings to light certain aspects of the case that don’t quite fit the magistrate’s view of what happened. The magistrate, Noémie Desfontaines (played by Géraldine Nakache), is also the love interest of the film, and I really like the developing relationship between her and Jean.

The film begins in comedy, and there are funny moments throughout, but it also kind of sneaks up on you as a very effective and competent mystery. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable film.

Playing Dead was directed by Jean-Paul Salomé, and was released on DVD on January 6, 2015 through First Run Features. The film is presented in French, with English subtitles. The DVD contains no special features.