Albrecht Schuch, star of 'All Quiet on the Western Front', plays an irresistible leading role in Bernhard Wenger's acidic, funny and slightly heartbreaking debut film.
Attentive, civilized, polite, patient, a good listener, easy on the eyes: Matthias is the kind of man almost anyone would enjoy having around. In turn, he’s happy to be company for almost anyone: a middle-aged bachelor looking for a date to a classical concert, an older married woman who can’t talk to her husband, a man his own age who needs a fake boyfriend to secure an apartment lease. Just because he gets paid for his company in all these situations doesn’t mean he treats them with any less care than he would his own, non-contractual relationships — which can be a problem, he realizes, by the time his girlfriend leaves him, exasperatedly saying that he “doesn’t seem real anymore.” That pithy remark sends Matthias into a downward spiral, a crisis of self-awareness, that gives Bernhard Wenger’s fantastic black comedy “Peacock” its unpredictable plotline.
A promisingly polished and fast-paced debut from the Austrian writer-director, this highlight of Venice Critics' Week has already done brisk business in key territories thanks to its sparkling, easily translatable satire and the quicksilver lead performance of Albrecht Schuch – the German star who made an international impression with his BAFTA-nominated performance in "All Quiet on the Western Front."
With its seemingly absurd premise actually inspired by a real-life rent-a-friend agency boom in Japan, this rumination on the micro-management of the Insta-lifestyle and the faltering of human connection in an age of social-network overload is smart and distinctive enough to survive inevitable comparisons with the work of Yorgos Lanthimos and especially Ruben Östlund. "Peacock" is a degree or two warmer than both, with Matthias's desperate search for the persona he lost somewhere along the way making for a decidedly endearing antihero. There's still a hint of formalist Austrian chill to its enigmatic, hands-off perspective and impeccably composed mise-en-scène: Albin Wildner's lensing is sharp and clear and quiet, an understated canvas for sharp visual gags.
