THE PIANO ACCIDENT

(L’Accident de Piano)

West Coast Premiere | France | 2025 | Dark Comedy | 88 min | In French with English subtitles |

Directed by: Quentin Dupieux
Written by: Quentin Dupieux
Produced by: Hugo Sélignac, Antoine Lafon & Nicolas Dumont (Chi-Fou-Mi Productions), Arte France Cinéma, Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Cinéma
Cinematography: Quentin Dupieux
Original Score: Quentin Dupieux
Film Editing: Quentin Dupieux
Cast: Adèle Exarchopoulos (Magalie Moreau), Jérôme Commandeur (Patrick Balandras), Sandrine Kiberlain (Simone Herzog), Karim Leklou (Roméo), Gabin Visona (Karim), Georgia Scalliet (Julia Balandras)
International Sales: Lucky Number

Synopsis

Social-media sensation Magalie Moreau, famous for posting shocking videos of herself on the internet, decides to lie low in a swanky mountain chalet following a mysterious accident that occurs during her most recent video shoot. However, her peaceful retreat is disrupted when a pushy journalist begins to blackmail her. Director Quentin Dupieux is back with another ferociously dark comedy, featuring a go-for-broke performance by the amazing Adèle Exarchopoulos, and training his keen comic eye on the excesses, emptiness and celebrity culture of our modern world. In the words of the absurdist-filmmaker-par-excellence himself, “The Piano Accident is no more absurd than real life.”

Director’s biography

Iconoclastic French filmmaker, electronic musician, and DJ Quentin Dupieux began making short films at the age of 18 and has gone on to direct fourteen pretty surreal features. He not only writes and directs them all; he shoots and edits them, as well… and for many years even composed their scores. His earliest features — his breakout film Rubber (2010); Wrong (2012), which premiered in Sundance; Wrong Cops (2013), which premiered in Cannes; and Reality (2014), which premiered in Venice — were all produced in the United States. His French productions include Keep an Eye Out (2018); Deerskin (COLCOA 2019), that year’s opening film at the Cannes Director’s Fortnight; Mandibles (2020), screened out of competition in Cannes; Incredible But True (2022); Smoking Causes Coughing (2022); Yannick (2023); Daaaaaali! (2024), which also premiered in Venice; and The Second Act (TAFFF 2024), the opening film of last year’s Cannes Film Festival. The Piano Accident was released to great acclaim in France in July.