He forgets his loyalty card when paying for his groceries and his life turns into a nightmare. Zai Zai Zai Zai adapts Fabcaro’s comic strip in a wacky way, with Jean-Paul Rouve as a comic actor who has become Enemy number 1, effectively assisted by Julie Depardieu, Julie Gayet and Ramzy Bedia in this delirium.
Stuck with holidaymakers bellowing from the Joe Dassin
“It was essential that the seriousness of our services contrast with the surrounding madness, specifies Jean-Paul Rouve to 20 minutes. The humor could not have worked if we had simply added absurdity to delirium. “You have to see the unfortunate stuck in a car with holidaymakers bellowing the song by Joe Dassin which inspires the title of the film to get an idea of the irresistible phlegm of the actor. We also laugh to see him rob a security guard with a leek that everyone considers a formidable weapon. “It doesn’t make a big difference for an actor to brandish a gun or a vegetable, laughs the actor. Either way, both are fake on a platter! »
“It’s the absurd side, between Italian comedies and Monty Python, that hooked us,” adds director François Desagnat. We wanted to show the failings of society but while having fun through a crazy road movie. “And it totally works as Jean-Paul Rouve embodies his character with papal seriousness while his world is falling apart as most of his relatives abandon him as an odious criminal.
So certainly, the tone of the film can be confusing but, as long as we agree to let ourselves be carried away in this wacky universe, we can only take enormous pleasure in the runaway of this hunted false culprit. “It’s very close to the humor that we practiced with the Robins des Bois, specifies Jean-Paul Rouve. There are fewer comedies of this type today, which made us want to iron a layer. The acceptance of this hero who undergoes appalling things without rebelling is an inexhaustible source of laughter, especially when he gives acting lessons to the security guard who arrested him.
“Before playing in the film, I did not see how one could wear Zai Zai Zai Zai on screen, remembers Jean-Paul Rouve. François Desagnat nevertheless succeeded in doing so while rediscovering the spirit of the comic strip. He blew me away. Let’s face it, so are we!