Lying somewhere between the protagonist of The Big Lebowski and Buster Keaton, at once amusing and melancholy, Boris, the main character in Be Boris by Benoît Goncerut, which is competing for the Audience Award at the Solothurn Film Festival, fascinates through his audacity – that of claiming his right to laziness. Boris is actually a 38-year-old with extensive cinematic and literary knowledge, and having reached the end of his unemployment benefits, as well as being homeless and incredibly nonchalant, he has the courage to do what all of us would like to do but do not dare: give up complying with the ruthless, consumerist rules of our social system.

The protagonist of Goncerut’s first solo feature does not claim to be an example to follow; rather, he offers concrete cues on how to survive in a world increasingly dominated by artificial intelligence, which will leave many people without work. For those people, however, the worst thing will not be unemployment itself, but the loss of all reference points – no longer knowing which direction to take once the myth of productivity at all costs has been debunked. And what if, as Boris suggests, true happiness lay precisely in reclaiming a laziness inherent in each of us, in unhurriedly taking care of ourselves, nourishing our intellect and allowing ourselves regenerating moments of sweet idleness during which to dream of a different reality that could be more tender and honest?

As the director himself states, Be Boris is not a film about Boris, but one with Boris – a tragicomic reflection, seemingly light and melancholy, on the true meaning of life. Not caring, and living in the present in a hedonistic way without worrying about leaving that much-touted trace of our existence on this Earth is something the film’s protagonist embodies without fanfare. It's a personal choice he wears like a second skin. If at the beginning of the film the director seems to observe his friend and protagonist with both curiosity and amusement, their cinematic cohabitation transforms their relationship into something different and more intense, as if a bit of Boris had seeped into Benoît without the latter really realising it. Be Boris is also a reflection on cinema, on the difficulties of making a film under the pressure of financial constraints that inevitably parasitise the creative process as well. Indeed, the challenges of making the film make their way into the narrative through a continuous hall-of-mirrors game between reality and fiction.

The most compelling moments of the doc, however, are those in which Boris affords us a glimpse of his fragility and the doubts that inevitably trouble him, too. The scene in which he waits, drenched in sweat, for the bailiffs who are about to seize the few belongings he owns, while trying to remain calm and detached, is particularly telling in this regard. “Boris seems to take refuge in fiction,” says the director’s voice-over – a universe that certainly resembles him more than the banal reality he is forced to confront.

On the surface, Be Boris is a comic movie that nonetheless conceals a darker, more complex soul, playing intelligently with humour and turning its protagonist into the true star of his own life.

Be Boris was produced by Switzerland's Visceral Films and RTS Radio Télévision Suisse. Outside The Box handles its international sales.