New Film Follows Low-Poly Man Convinced He’s Living In A PlayStation Game

Quentin Dupieux presented two films at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, including his animated debut Le Vertige. The movie follows Jacques, played by Alain Chabat, a man increasingly convinced he is living in a simulation; the audience can plainly see he exists inside a low-polygon PlayStation-style game.

His closest friends remain skeptical, unfazed by the ethereal, inconsequential nature of their day-to-day lives. The film’s world is unmistakably ’90s: it feels run from a CD-ROM, its blocky bodies moving as if under tank controls. Animated using Blender, Le Vertige pokes fun at the relentless pursuit of realism in computer-generated imagery, particularly in the shadow of AI-generated imagery.

Dupieux, also known as the DJ Mr. Oizo, has built a reputation for absurdist, often meta-fictional satire. His 2010 debut Rubber — a horror movie about a murderous tire — played against audience expectations, repeatedly abandoning conventional plot to pursue broader farce.

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