'Coup!' Review: Class Struggle Born Out of Pandemic and Inequality

In late 2020, a wave of films began to speak to the COVID-19 pandemic, either explicitly or unintentionally through the boundaries of their production. Some films addressed quarantine and lockdown and the way our lives had changed. Others simply told stories with just a few people in one location, which were easier to film safely.

But four years later, we find ourselves with a work that articulates the 2020 pandemic by tackling another pandemic from a century ago: the 1918 flu pandemic. Written and directed by Joseph Schuman and Austin Stark, “Coup!” is an animated class satire set in this era, though the issues it addresses feel all too current, which is something all good period pieces should strive to achieve.

One of the film’s antiheroes, Floyd (Peter Sarsgaard), speaks clearly about what the 2020 pandemic taught us when he tells his employer’s wife, Julia (Sarah Gadon), “Nature has a way of sneaking into the modern world, bringing out the beast in some and the beauty in others.” Many would agree that the turmoil and fear of the recent pandemic and lockdown revealed some of our most basic human instincts and tendencies, in ways we are still grappling with.

Floyd's employer is Jay (Billy Magnussen), a rich kid from a wealthy family and a proud journalist. He's holed up with his family and servants on his sumptuous estate on Egg Island, waiting out the pandemic while writing forceful newspaper columns demanding the government shut down businesses to protect the working class from the spread of the flu. We first meet Floyd when he assumes the identity of another man and heads to the island to present himself as the Horton family's latest personal chef.

But while Floyd prepares plant-based meals for Jay, a staunch follower of the vegetarian diet, he also takes the opportunity to foment rebellion in the household, starting with the staff, a diverse group consisting of a black governess (Skye P. Marshall), a Turkish chauffeur (Faran Tahir), and an Irish housekeeper (Kristine Nielsen). Floyd himself is a Spanish-American War veteran with a vaguely Louisiana accent; he has little patience for Jay’s house rules, especially when the lord of the manor is such an obvious hypocrite.

The writer recites missives condemning the Wilson administration and falsely claims to be at the center of protests in New York City, all while holed up in his luxurious isolation, waited on hand and foot. Floyd immediately chafes at the hierarchies imposed in Jay’s household, and when the island is cut off from ferries and grocery stores are closed, the mansion becomes dependent on its cook for supplies. As the mansion becomes something of a “Lord of the Flies” affair, our hedonistic interloper uses this opportunity to become a usurper.

Sarsgaard and Magnussen are extraordinary actors who master their craft and do it very well in this film. The former excels in his role as a cunning, seductive trickster, while the latter excels in that of a pompous, conceited rich boy. Gadon plays the female roles of both actors with ease.

Shot by Conor Murphy with a woodsy sheen evoking the luxury of the grand mansion’s interiors (as well as a sepia-tinted vintage quality), “Coup!” displays a richness and warmth that belies the cynical, biting nature of the story. While some additional characters are left loose and therefore seem unrelated, they are not necessary to the communication of the central ideas of class struggle and hypocrisy. Supported by its leads, “Coup!” is a tasty morsel of social commentary on the problems that continue to plague our world.

Walsh is a film critic for the Tribune News Service.