Cannes favourite Quentin Dupieux continues in the absurdist comic vein familiar to viewers of his previous work, which includes Rubber (2010), the tale of a murderous, sentient tyre, and Deerskin (2019), starring Jean Dujardin, Adèle Haenel, and a talking motorcycle jacket. Smoking Causes Coughing follows the exploits of Tobacco Force, a team of robot-assisted, planet-protecting superheroes whose members include Nicotine (Anaïs Demoustier) and leader Benzène (Gilles Lellouche). Their chief, Didier, a talking rat seemingly irresistible to women, fears for the team’s cohesion. He sends them on a teambuilding retreat to reaffirm their bonds before taking on the terrible Lézardin, Emperor of Evil (Benoît Poelvoorde). There, they pass the time sharing stories (one of which features Adèle Exarchopoulos) in this off-kilter, easy-going, and consistently funny film.

There will be Open Captioned screenings on Wednesday 12th at 18.20.

Notes by Kevin Coyne