“I’m not a hero” or how to get comedy out of pure entertainment through trial and error?

I am not a hero
of Rudy Milstein
Comedy
With Vincent Dedienne, Géraldine Nakache, Clémence Poésy
Theatrical release on December 6, 2023

What is a comedy for? If, at the start, comedy is opposed to tragedy by the fact that one ends well while the other ends a good part of the time with the death of the protagonists, the situation has changed somewhat. Of course, it is always very rare to watch a comedy with an unfortunate ending, but the qualifier no longer defines the resolution so much as the content of the events that lead to it. Indeed, at present, what we mean by “comedy” is a film whose objectives are entertainment and, above all, the search for laughter. As proof, superhero films and action films, whose ending is very often to the advantage of the protagonists, are, with some exceptions, never cataloged in this genre. We prefer the terms “superhero”, “adventure” or “action”.

However, we cannot reduce comedy to the simple search for funny. The majority of films have an intention that could be described, if not political at least, as social by giving a vision of the world, by praising or discrediting certain actions and certain values. Comedy is no exception to the rule. We can easily cite Molière or Chaplin whose works have spanned the ages through comic effectiveness coupled with acerbic denunciation of this or that behavior. But there is no need for extensive satire to have a moral discourse. Indeed, most comedies adopt a very consensual message, that of tolerance and acceptance. The model according to which we place a character in a completely foreign environment (The Corsican investigation, Untouchables, Welcome to the ch’tis) is an immediate source of comedy and, ultimately, a little ode to living together.

From this point of view, I am not a hero fits perfectly into the genre since it depicts the portrait of Louis, a lamb in the middle of a law firm full of wolves. However, this time, the film goes further and the themes covered are much heavier: the client that our protagonist and his colleagues defend is accused of having caused cases of cancer via his pesticides. On paper, it’s moderately funny. However, comedy arises from illness. Indeed, convinced that his tumor is malignant, Louis announces that he himself suffers from cancer and this prognosis has so many positive effects on his life (both professional and emotional) that he does not dare to deny it when he learns that in fact, everything is fine.

The film then places itself in the lineage of “placere et docere”, to please and instruct. Address a serious subject with a light tone in order to broadcast a speech while entertaining your audience. However, if the entertaining aspect of the film is absolutely successful, the message does not last in the memory. Unlike Goliath by Frédéric Tellier released last year, dealing with the same subject and with which I am not a hero explicitly shares the parable of the myth of David, a film which instills a feeling of anxiety and revolt, Rudy Milstein’s feature film fails to make the viewer embrace its cause.

Where does this deficiency come from? The question is legitimate as the comedy aspect is successful and the subject is important and of a worrying nature. No doubt we must regret the end of the film which falls like a bellows. While the entirety of it mixes genres and emotions with great accuracy, the epilogue of the feature film sinks into absolute comedy by falling into the cliché of the ontological superiority of good over evil. Perhaps because the film is a comedy and therefore had to end as a comedy, perhaps for this famous hope, this positive thought according to which if something is possible then it can and must be done. LikeA difficult year by Éric Tolédano and Olivier Nakache released a few weeks ago, I am not a hero is far from being the only committed comedy to fall into a certain naivety when it comes to a conclusion. It is no less regrettable to end with the least interesting of the notes, because it is this one which remains in the head and in the mouth once the film is over.

Yet the ambition of I am not a hero is absolutely commendable and it would be fashionable for comedies to invest more in public debate. But the feature film falls into a trap that Goliath, a film which is also not without reproaches, avoids: that of the single element which completely turns the situation around, the one which consists of saying that as important as one is , we all have an Achilles heel. Every day proves the opposite a little more and the pangs of the powerful sometimes make them sway, but in no way detract from their power.

Ultimately, although the film struggles to engage its viewer, it is a model of comedy. We laugh and think about it. And if the challenge of making a militant comedy is not completely met, it remains a generally successful attempt from which it would be a good idea to take inspiration.