The Wolf of Wall Street is ten years old: Scorsese casts DiCaprio in a delirious cartoonish one-man show (review)

At Christmas 2013, Première was amazed by the vitality of this film and its excellent casting.

If it was absent from most of the end-of-year tops, because it was released late, on December 25, 2013, The wolf of Wall Street is a film that has had a profound impact on moviegoers. Fans of cinema Martin Scorsese, of course, but not only that. For Firstit was a shock: in our long review, we detailed all the qualities of this film supported by a five-star cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie (then a revelation), Jonah Hill, Matthew McConaughey…

We share our opinion on The wolf of Wall Street on the occasion of its tenth anniversary.

Martin Scorsese reveals his favorite shot from The Wolf of Wall Street

Perhaps he saw himself in the mirror he held up to himself in his previous film, Hugo Cabret. Perhaps he realized that he was not the child genius frolicking behind the scenes of the Gare du Nord, amazed by the beginning of the 20th century and the magic of the seventh art, but the old master standing ovation at the end of the film. In all his interviews at the time, Christmas 2011, Martin Scorsese nevertheless insisted on his personal identification with little Hugo, the kid with the wide eyes. But the evidence of his past seventy years allowed us to consider that his alter ego on screen was rather George Mélièsthe grumpy old grandpa having exhausted all his tricks, his enthusiasm and his capacity to create, but finally recognized at his right level after long years of frustration (a conscious or unconscious allusion to his late Oscar for Infiltratorsyet one of his least good films).

In the 21st century, Scorsese’s cinema had become a museum, a collection of ghost images and wax statues. The man having achieved the status of an untouchable living God, we could hear the media chorus extolling the merits of each of his films and counting the box office figures, ten times higher during the period DiCaprio to what they might have been in the 70s and 80s, the years Taxi Driveryears Raging Bullyears De Niro. The admirers purred like happy cats. Martin Scorsese’s cinema purred, as if in slow motion, completely satisfied with itself. And then, in his mirror, he saw. Since he was no longer the most beautiful. He had to react.

If Hugo Cabret therefore served as a reminder for the filmmaker, The wolf of Wall Street is a giant shoot aimed at its audience. THE “Scorsese system” had culminated in Casinoin 1995 ? The wolf proposes to consider all the films that followed (seven feature films, Kundu has Hugo) like a soft knee bracket. Guided by a stunning script from Terence Winter (former of the house Sopranonow showrunner of the series Boardwalk Empire) and by the no less astonishing autobio of the ex-carnivorous trader Jordan BelfortScorsese casts DiCaprio in a delirious cartoonish one-man show, something like the cult drug sequence of Freed extended over almost three hours.

Of course, all these little people, director included, are perfectly aware of “do Scorsese. » But apart from the fact that we are not likely to complain about it, the film functions as a piece of perpetual bravery, a frenzy of ass, drugs, blowjobs, cocks, greed, obscene money literally thrown into the trash, dwarf throwing, degenerate orgies in the service of an uninhibited satirical charge against the money king of the 80’s (and today) and against the Caligulesque creatures who sacrifice to its obscene cult. No doubt because he himself went through a period of whores, drugs & cinema at the end of the 70s, Scorsese shows this with a kind of jubilant horror or horrific jubilation, a finger on the trigger of puritanical morality , but with his nose in powder and lust, a gargantuan smile on his face. For his part, after fifteen years of sullen roles, furrowed brows and furrowed eyebrows, DiCaprio explodes on the screen in the role of a frenetic histrion, driving the film non-stop, being careful to continually stay in the red.

So better than Freed ? As good as Casino ? The question is not posed in these terms. Where those films were openly fascinated by their subject matter, in love with their glam gangster characters, The wolf of Wall Street presents itself as a game of massacre with no return, no recourse, no redemption or extenuating circumstances, a sort of call to social hatred against the lawless sharks who spend the film (and their lives) getting everywhere : full pockets, full nose, full eyes, full ass. Not “goodfellas,” “badfellas” : bad guys. And a truly great film.

Edward Sonderborg

Matthew McConaughey deciphers his cult scene in The Wolf of Wall Street