Dominique Pinon makes eccentric characters worth caring about through precise physical comedy and an unforced warmth. Delicatessen gives him the space to do both; we would like more films to trust him with that much responsibility.
Fi1m perspective
In Delicatessen (1991), Dominique Pinon's Louison remains worth watching even when the grotesque surroundings are competing for our attention. Pinon plays the former clown with an enjoyment of make-believe that is easy to share. We warmed to him because his physical comedy kept that pleasure alive amid so much carefully arranged ugliness. He gives us someone to care about without asking the film to become respectable. This is where we value him most: allowed to be funny and peculiar without being treated as a curiosity.
The early film work includes Diva (1981), but the lead in Delicatessen was the turn that mattered. It began a sustained collaboration with Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who directed the film with Marc Caro. In The City of Lost Children (1995), Pinon plays multiple clones, a job that depends on exact timing and repetition. Jeunet continued to cast him, as Vriess in Alien Resurrection (1997), Joseph in Amélie (2001) and Sylvain in A Very Long Engagement (2004).
We should not credit him with curing every weakness in Delicatessen. The story is thin, and the grotesquerie sometimes continues after we have had enough of it. Carlos D'Alessio's score helps keep the film playful when the imagery becomes overbearing, so Pinon is not sustaining that mood unaided. Nor can an actor provide all the feeling that the writing has left out, however sympathetic he makes his character. Still, Louison is a sound reason to stay with a film whose directors sometimes seem more interested in finding another visual joke than in moving the story along.
The reservation about his wider casting is how readily a distinctive face can become a reason to keep offering someone marginal, eccentric parts. Pinon's physical precision deserves at least as much attention as his appearance, and Delicatessen shows what happens when he has room to carry a film. We would welcome another part that gives him that responsibility rather than simply a place among the oddities. Start with Louison, and watch how much of the film's kindness depends on him.
Biography
Dominique Pinon is a French actor. He studied literature at the Faculty of Arts in Poitiers and trained at the Cours Simon acting school in Paris. His first film appearance was in Jean-Jacques Beineix's Diva (1981).
Pinon has collaborated frequently with director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, appearing in Delicatessen (1991) as Louison, Alien Resurrection (1997), Amélie (2001) and other films. He has worked extensively in theatre since the mid-1980s and received the Molière Award for Best Actor in 2004. He was appointed Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2014. His television credits include the role of Master Raymond in Outlander (2014).
