P'tit Quinquin (released as Li'l Quinquin in the U.S. only) is a 2014 French murder mystery film/miniseries directed by Bruno Dumont. Originally premiering as a film at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival in May (and subsequently for international releases), it was broadcast in September 2014 as a four-episode miniseries on French television.[1]

P'tit Quinquin (Li'l Quinquin)
French poster
Directed byBruno Dumont
Written byBruno Dumont
Produced byRachid Bouchareb
Jean Bréhat
Muriel Merlin
StarringAlane Delhaye
Lucy Caron
Bernard Pruvost
Philippe Jore
CinematographyGuillaume Deffontaines
Release date
  • 21 May 2014 (2014-05-21) (Cannes)
Running time
206 minutes
CountryFrance

A sequel, Coincoin and the Extra-Humans (Coincoin et les Z’inhumains), was made by Dumont in 2018, featuring most of the cast of the original film.[2]

Cast

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Most of the cast was made up of natives of the Pas-de-Calais region, where the film is set, with little to no prior acting experience. Several of the cast members also have physical disabilities, such as Jason Cirot, who plays Quinquin's uncle Dany, or Bernard Pruvost, who has a tic disorder. Dumont responded to criticism that he was exploiting or ridiculing such individuals: "They're acting. We spent a lot of time rehearsing, and it's actor's work." A repeating gag where Dany spins around before falling was suggested by Cirot: "Let's put this in, it's something I love doing." According to Dumont, Pruvost's tics were more pronounced on-screen than off, due to a combination of nervousness and the use of an earpiece through which Pruvost received his lines: "The reason he keeps moving his head is because he's listening to what I'm saying in his ear."[3]

Accolades

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Cahiers du Cinéma featured P'tit Quinquin on its cover of the September issue[4] and ranked it as the best picture on its list of films from 2014.[5] In 2019, the magazine placed the film at #3 on its top 10 films of the decade.[6]

References

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  1. ^ "P'tit Quinquin (15) | Close-Up Film Review". Close-Up Film. July 9, 2015.
  2. ^ "'Coincoin and the Extra-Humans' ('Coincoin et les Z'inhumains'): TV Review | Locarno 2018". The Hollywood Reporter. 6 August 2018.
  3. ^ Romney, Jonathan (July 8, 2015). "Why France's god of grim made a knockabout Clouseau-style comedy". The Guardian – via www.theguardian.com.
  4. ^ "Top Ten 2014, Septembre 2014 n°703". Cahiers du cinéma.
  5. ^ "Top Ten 2014, Decembre 2014 n°706". Cahiers du cinéma.
  6. ^ "Top 10 Des années 2010". Cahiers du cinéma.
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