I was naive not to question Zenithal’s premise, which involved a man who goes on the run after being accused of murdering a martial arts master. Along the way, this man would encounter a surgeon who was experienced in bodily transformation. The French comedy is a sequel to director Jean-Baptiste Saurel’s 2012 short film The Dickslap. What are initially cutesy title cards at the opening of the film are serving to catch audiences up to speed on the content of the over-decade-old short. Notably, the bodily transformations in question concerned giant, sentient penises. We’re talking three-foot-long, bulky, brain-containing members. Despite being decidedly outside the film’s target demographic, I had a lot of fun with many aspects of this off-the-wall and deeply flawed comedy.
Zenithal’s Character Acting Is Its Best Element

Franc Bruneau Really Sells Francis

Even when the script falters, the main ensemble always comes through. Zenithal is led by French actor Franc Bruneau. Bruneau is hilariously hopeless as Francis, imbuing senses of longing and exaggerated frustration in his puppy dog eyes. Bruneau and co-stars Vanessa Guide and Cryil Gueï are talented enough to bring high drama to the world of Francis’ job as a dry cleaner. While the movie is far more focused on its naughtier humor, I found the dry-cleaning comedy in the first act to be the best part. The supporting cast also included great character actors who breathed life into the film. Xavier Lacaille, the antagonist whose villainy begins when he tries to poach Francis at work in favor of a supposedly better dry cleaning facility, does his caricature fantastically. Lacaille, along with Rébecca Finet and Emily in Paris’ Bruno Gouery, make Zenithal a thoroughly entertaining ride.
Zenithal’s Pacing Is All Over The Place

It Tries To Pack A Lot In

Zenithal only works, however, if one completely ignores the plot’s progression. I would probably have had more context if I had watched The Dickslap (a sentence I never thought I would be writing in a review), but the beginning of the film felt incredibly rushed.

The quick pace made sense for an action movie, but left the film feeling overstuffed.

Mainly, I struggled to understand why exactly Francis was the prime suspect in well-endowed martial-arts fighter Ti-Kong’s murder. Sure, the protagonist saw him guest-teaching in his wife, Sonia’s, self-defense class, but this weak motive aligns with absolutely no evidence. The scenes flitted by fast enough that it was hard to understand how the police would jump to this conclusion. The quick pace made sense for an action movie, but left the film feeling overstuffed. While the first act powered through at a significant speed, the second and third acts were in some ways even busier. After all these moments of confusion and overwhelm, Zenithal’s ending then felt pretty abrupt.
The Film’s Wackiness Undermines Its Own Attempts At Theme

It Tries To Be Deeper Than It Is

At its core, Zenithal will always be the goofy big penis movie, but some of its scenes indicate that it really wants to be more than that. Sonia’s character acts as the vessel through which the film delivers some of its deeper thematic content. Her dialogue hints at the film’s themes of masculinity and how it’s interpreted in society. This is matched by antagonist Michel’s over-the-top sexism and desire for male dominance. It is not hard to crack the code of what a movie with surgically modified, overlarge penises created by a chauvinist surgeon might be trying to comment on, and Zenithal certainly does not tone down that inherent bluntness.

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However, any real sense of theme was undermined by the fact that this movie is utter chaos. Its final act involved a martial arts fight with a ridiculous-looking, metal-armored superpenis. A comedy can still have poignant messaging, but there’s a level of wackiness that ends up getting in the way of cogent themes. Zenithal is at that level. The themes end up both flagrantly obvious and obscured. On the one hand, the dialogue spells things out. On the other hand, broad martial arts sequences and goofy costumes detract from any nuance Zenithal could have conveyed. For those who want 80 minutes of overwrought crude jokes, this movie will not disappoint. I was ultimately left entertained yet also unfulfilled.

Zenithal

5/10

Release Date

August 21, 2024

Runtime

80 minutes

Director

Jean-Baptiste Saurel

Writers

Elodie Wallace, Jean-Baptiste Saurel

Xavier Lacaille

Michel Sweeper