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 started out with some items that grabbed people’s attention then gradually kept going to items that would be more shocking. She has huge 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 assistant of many years, is driving her to a secluded mountain chalet. While it looks very nice, 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 take care of all the unpleasantness as she has done 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 did a great job of portraying an influencer who seems to have lost track of reality and thinks money will solve most every problem that comes up. It is easy to see her in this film and quickly dislike the character. I certainly did. “Living online” seems to cause individuals to not 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 last performance and try to use it against her. At one point, the dark comedy gets darker as information surfaces, and it is hard to turn 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 scheduled during the festival. 88-minute runtime.
Source: Fantastic Fest, IMDb
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