Baleydier: An accidental comedy of errors

So, is it worth a watch?

If you have a thing for old French cinema and don't mind when a movie falls apart in front of your eyes, Baleydier is actually kind of a treat. If you’re looking for a tight, well-oiled machine of a film, look elsewhere.

It’s for the folks who love watching the seams of a movie show. If you hate awkward pacing or performances that feel like they belong in two different films, you’re gonna have a bad time here. 🤡

The whole premise is this hairdresser guy who wants to be a serious actor. He gets this big break, but his co-star is... well, they're just not great. It’s painful. And the funniest part? The audience in the movie thinks it’s intentional, like a big joke. It’s like watching a train wreck where everyone thinks the fire is just part of the show.

Michel Simon is in this, and honestly, watching him navigate this chaos is weirdly hypnotic. There’s a specific scene about halfway through where he looks at the camera—or maybe he’s just looking past it?—and you can practically see him questioning his career choices. It’s these little moments of human hesitation that made me stop checking my phone.

It’s not as polished as La menace, that’s for sure. It feels like a rough draft that somehow got filmed and developed by mistake. Some of the cuts are so sharp they feel like they were made with safety scissors. ✂️

I found myself laughing at things that definitely weren't supposed to be funny. Like the way the extras seem to wander through the background with no clue where they are going. It’s got that empty stage vibe where you realize half the set budget probably went to coffee.

There is no profound message here. It doesn't try to change your life. It’s just a weird, slightly broken story about someone failing upwards. Sometimes that’s exactly what I need on a Tuesday night.

The dialogue is hit or miss. Mostly miss. But there’s a charm to how clunky the sentences feel, like the writers were just throwing darts at a board to see what stuck. It feels very human, very flawed, and very much like someone was just making it up as they went along.

Don’t go in expecting a masterpiece. Go in expecting a weird, little relic that probably shouldn't exist. It’s messy. It’s uneven. It’s fine.