Bernhard Wenger’s delightfully absurd film, Peacock, opens with a glaring, extended static shot of a golf cart on fire. Finally, two people put it out with fire extinguishers and one of them, our protagonist, Matthias (Albrecht Schuch), emerges as a hero.
Besides the idea that the cart represents the elite society the film is mostly lambasting, the entire moment also encompasses one of the film’s major themes, the idea that the cart being set ablaze was intentional so Matthias can be seen as heroic—can we ever trust anything we see anymore, not just on social media, but in real life? Or has our world become one giant deception?
Peacock follows the poised and cultured Matthias who works for a company called MyCompanion, where, for an exorbitant fee (we assume), people can hire these exclusively trained employees to assume any social role, whether it be the perfect, if often out-of-town, son, a savvy boyfriend or an impressive pilot father at Bring Your Dad to School Day. Matthias is one of the best at the company (no bad reviews), but his personal life is going to shit as his identity becomes more enmeshed with the personas he’s taking on and he becomes effectively detached. His girlfriend argues that he no longer seems real, and so she leaves him. This leads to a host of highly unusual situations where Matthias becomes increasingly unhinged.
Wenger got the idea for this insightful social satire from the real-life Rent-a-Friend agencies that are super popular in Japan. I, personally, had no clue such things existed—but, in retrospect, it’s not surprising. Why wouldn’t people with money hire other people to be exactly who they want and need them to be? It’s easier than nurturing relationships.
Peacock is Austria’s International Feature Oscar entry and lands in Venice as an instant satiric and absurdist classic with a brilliantly deadpan performance by Albrecht Schuch (All Quiet on the Western Front). His is a masterful turn, precise yet seemingly cuckoo. And Schuch’s final scene is priceless, hilarious and, ultimately, devastating.
There are so many moments of whimsy in this joyous, wacky meta tragicomedy. Besides great one-liners, the film incorporates slapstick and performance-art inspired moments to constantly keep the viewer giddy and enthralled—but also fearful that this might be the way we are headed—or worse, that we’ve already arrived at an irreverent, ridiculous place.
Wenger never feels the need to go super dark. He doesn’t have to. He simply presents a character unable to really feel his life anymore, because he’s been in total service to others, living in a world where nothing presented can be necessarily accepted as authentic. Then he raises a few stakes. The results are sublime.
In German with English subtitles.
Peacock is part of the Venice Film International Critics Week Section.
https://www.labiennale.org
