Zaï Zaï Zaï Zaï

Zaï Zaï Zaï Zaï deals with the absolute necessity of being a “winner” in an environment where we are presented with windows onto a world where everyone is invited to share their misfortune or prove to others that they have no reason to exist. Television loves everyone, and people pay their license fees to see themselves in close-up.

Claude and Corinne sit in their armchairs and stare at a camera in front of them. They reminisce about moments of passion: their life in Kortrijk, holidays in Maubeuge, fairs, the frozen lake, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and Mexico 86... And then there is Doggy's suicide. And then there is the death of “Maman.” And then... The couple gets up, gets dressed, and moves on to performing and directing a range of television programs: teleshopping, reality shows, guest interviews, cooking shows. As the evening progresses, imperceptibly, the tone changes, something becomes clearer... Corinne and Claude don't really talk to each other. Their existence is a show that allows them to escape their own condition. But the reality show, dripping with sympathy, soon degenerates into a salacious interview in which the unsettled guests become increasingly sly...

The setting is that of a living room converted into a television studio. The actors/characters are the technicians of their own show. They present a series of television programs in which they talk to themselves through fake cameras. They appear in their programs disguised as presenters. As the story unfolds, the narrative shifts and a secret is revealed, which will break up the couple and free the individuals from their staging: Madame ends up locked in a trunk that is not so magical after all, her face in close-up on the living room television, while Monsieur jumps out of the window, probably falling to his death, and a new beginning...

In sequences (rather than sketches), in a setting that is half kitsch, half cozy, both realistic and artificial, filled with technical equipment—necessary for launching jingles and programs— Zaï Zaï Zaï Zaï unfolds the thread of an ordinary existence: love that fades, childhood memories, making tortillas, replacing a light bulb, the repertoire of fears and contradictions, professional life, neighbors, wishes, regrets... It's jarring, it's bloody, it's trivial and cruel, it's written with a scalpel and performed with a mix of distance and closeness by rich and vivid personalities. It's disturbing, frightening, moving, hilarious. It's now.

Marie Baudet, La Libre Belgique, 2005