A malcontent internet self-harm influencer retreats after an accident and is blackmailed into an interview in Quintin Dupieux’s odd dark-comedy with a dash of horror, The Piano Accident, presented as part of Fantastic Fest.
Quinten Dupieux makes strange, oddly put, slightly disconcerting films. Previously, he bought Rubber, the killer tire film, and Deerskin, about a man’s obsession with a nice jacket. Similar to Deerskin, The Piano Accident is a strange journey of low-key changes and effects of personality on others. It’s acutely introspective, but also keeps everything at arm’s length. That’s oxymoronic, yes, but that’s Dupieux’s MO in his films.
The Piano Accident asks the question: “What the hell is wrong with social media influencers?” Magalie is recovering from her latest video, the titular piano accident. Retreating to a secluded chalet with the help of her put-upon helping Patrick. There, trying to figure out next steps, she’s bothered by obsessive fans, a journalist, and her own emptiness.
It’s an interesting set-up, where every character is pretty much terrible. Magalie is selfish, caring for anyone else as little as she does her body. Her shrug about caring for herself extends to her personal life and how she deals with others. She has congenital insensitivity, the same disease as Jack Quaid in this year’s Novocaine. Unable to feel any pain, she creates videos destroying her body for likes and money. Patrick is her handler, knowing it’s all wrong but working for the cash. Her retreat is interrupted by a journalist who knows what happened in the accident, blackmailing her to try to get a story out of the acerbic, standoffish Magalie. Magalie comes off like a sullen teenager, an attitude that matches the keeping of her mouth braces for 20 years, meant to keep her recognizable. But she’s stagnant.
The introspective angle, or the lack thereof, draws in. The acute introspetiv is very much in Magaline, avoiding it. By cutting around, by pushing away, we see little care. The emptiness. The whole nothing that is her existence. There’s a fascination in watching someone put up a wall and avoid tearing it down because they know there’s nothing on the other side. Dupieux continues his streak of dark mirrors of society; what makes an influencer’s life, just sliding to the next video, living only for the validation of others, even if you hate everyone else (and yourself?) The Piano Accident is a daming indictiment of the culture of the next buzz.
It’s an emptiness in the excess of her videos and life. Is social media, acts for likes, shares, and subscriptions, nothing in the end? Do the fans really care? A pair of fans in the movie see her as someone to get a quick photo with, no matter how often they are pushed away. She is a commodity, not a person. An object. 
Adele Exarchopoulos is perfection as Magaline. It takes a lot to make a hateable ass of a person immediately watchable. She’s fascinating. Exarchopoulos welcomes us into the world as much as Magaline pushes away; it’s a performance of the face: of her eyes betraying her words. Each external sideways glance and eye roll informs the internal.
All of it is darkly funny, in a black mirror against life sort of way. It is satire after all. Does society actually revere the influencer? Where does it go, and what’s to blame? What happens when it starts to crash down (here’s where the horror comes in…). It is worth noting that she got her start via Jackass, airing over twenty years ago on MTV. People hurting themselves and willing friends for fun and profit isn’t new, just the platform and wide-scale ease of finding eyes and sponsors. Is being part of this cycle, as a viewer or “star” dulling your ability to care? A person hurt in the cause of a like is not a person, but a commodity, a number to crunch, a nothing. Do YouTube stars cease to be real people, conforming to the expectations of their screen personality? Dupieux explores all of this through the lens of Magaline and those around her, who worship her, who damn her, who exploit her and are exploited by her.
Quentin Dupieux’s The Piano Accident is a solid satire of the modern age, where anything goes for views. Exarchopoulous is a fantastic lead, balancing the emptiness of Magaline’s life with a keen understanding of character. Like, comment, subscribe for more Fantastic Fest 2025 coverage. I’m being glib with the line, but keep reading for festival coverage. Fantastic Fest 2025 takes place from September 18th to 25th in Austin, Texas.