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‘Peacock’ Review: A Zingy Austrian Comedy Follows a Friend-For-Hire In Desperate Need of a Real Connection
Albrecht Schuch gives an irresistible star turn in 'Peacock,' Bernhard Wenger's tart, funny, slightly heartbreaking debut feature.
An auspiciously polished and snappy debut from its Austrian writer-director, this Venice Critics’ Week highlight has already racked up robust sales in major territories on the strength of its sparkling, readily translatable satire and quicksilver leading turn by Albrecht Schuch — the German star who made an international impression with his BAFTA-nominated performance in “All Quiet on the Western Front.” With its seemingly absurd premise actually inspired by a real-life boom in rent-a-friend agencies in Japan, this reflection on Insta-lifestyle micro-management and faltering human connection in an age of social-network overload is sufficiently smart and distinctive to weather unavoidable comparisons to the work of Yorgos Lanthimos and particularly Ruben Östlund. Forever dashingly dressed and groomed, with nary a hair out of place in either his neat mustache or his moussed blond quiff, he’s both the CEO and very sellable face of My Companion, a Vienna-based friend-rental company that disguises any potential sadness or tawdriness in the enterprise with friendly therapyspeak and a bright millennial aesthetic.
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