What is "F*ckin' Fred, like a leopard", the true-fake documentary with Orelsan and Jonathan Cohen, worth?

Clément Cotentin's new documentary arrives Thursday, February 27 on Amazon Prime, without fanfare. We understand why. Let's face it, F*ckin' Fred, comme un polaire is not of the same caliber as the two remarkable documentary series he made about his brother Orelsan, Montre jamais ça à personne , with which he regaled us in 2021 (Part 1), then in 2022 (Part 2). Because it is short (1h06), like the best jokes are, this film can be entertaining, but it is dispensable and will not remain at the top of his CV.

Even before the credits of F*ckin' Fred , a warning warns: " All the scenes in this documentary are completely true. And also completely false." It will therefore be a true-fake documentary in a parodic vein, that is to say a "mockumentary". A film visibly shot in a hurry, without any specific goal at the start, which benefited from additions a posteriori to try to script, dramatize, and make stand up what was initially just a big delirium around one of the multiple incarnations of Jonathan Cohen, that of F*ckin' Fred.

Let's rewind to the beginning. Around 2015, Jonathan Cohen squeezed himself for the first time between Orelsan and Gringe on the couch that served as the setting for the comedy series Bloqués . Under the pseudonym Serge le Mytho, Jonathan improvised wacky stories that supposedly happened to him. Serge le Mytho exploded on the screen to such an extent that he would later have his own successful spin-off shortcom. We know the rest – notably his role in Family Business , and his production of the series La Flamme and Le Flambeau – and the irresistible rise of a guy who turned out to be an inexhaustible joke machine.

His character F*ckin' Fred was born from one of his delusions. On the Epilogue Tour (2019-2020), Orelsan invites people he "likes" to join him on stage, on one or more dates. Jonathan Cohen is one of them. Up until then, everything is true, but after that, we can't answer for anything. While the Norman rapper was considering " just doing Serge le Mytho on stage" , "Jo" insists on proposing something new. His ideas are flying: simultaneously translating the lyrics into sign language? Dancing? Making cocktails? Finally, the idea, a priori wiser, of making a song is retained.

As a gifted person who can resist nothing, "Jo" starts to tinker with a few lyrics on the tour bus. Sure, it's not very high-flying, but all he needs is a gimmick, a piece of a phrase looped, to add a little rhythm by tapping his fingers on the table and a song takes shape. A stupid and puny song, but a song nonetheless. With a helping hand from the musicians of Orelsan, Skread, Eddie Purple and Phazz to tie it all together in the blink of an eye, this semblance of something holds up better.

Jonathan Cohen creates a flashy character for the occasion: a guy with a delicious accent, capable of singing in all languages, including sign language "with the accent", a fan of capoeira in his own way, with thin braids held in place by a headband, a multi-coloured bob and leopard-print shorts as an option. " Hello Paris, welcome to my ass, Tour de France, baguette, Eiffel Tower..." , he chants as he leaps onto the stage to a muscular Eurodance beat, during an open-air Swiss festival.

The sauce takes. Acclaimed, F*ckin' Fred is born. This walking parody will then regularly crash on stage with his buddy Orelsan, and that's true.

It is this story, fleshed out in a credible narrative, with a beginning, a middle, an end and a bit of suspense, that Clément Cotentin's true-fake documentary tells. By supplementing the existing rushes with new sequences, by using all the devices such as the countdown or the commentaries on the action after the fact , by playing on the contrast between Orelsan's permanent phlegm and "Jo's" overflowing energy, he succeeds. With a big wink of connivance to the viewer as an extra. Do we laugh at this ultra-mad film? Yes, provided you appreciate offbeat humor and haven't seen the excerpts from F*ckin' Fred that have been hanging around on YouTube for years .

This strange UFO allows Jonathan Cohen to prove once again what a phenomenon he is. An ineffable king of improvisation, a king of jokes who shoots faster than his shadow, a prince of metamorphosis and a master of voices and accents, who here steals the show from his buddy Orelsan, an obviously consenting foil. Permanently freewheeling, we have to believe Jonathan Cohen-F*ckin' Fred when he proclaims that he has no limits. At one point, we even thought very strongly of Misou-Mizou the farter, aka Bruno Carette from Les Nuls, and that's a compliment.

"F*ckin' Fred, like a leopard", documentary by Clément Cotentin with Orelsan and Jonathan Cohen (66 minutes) available on Amazon Prime Thursday February 27, 2025