"Welcome to 'Pourquoi J'ai Raison et Vous Avez Tort'.note "
— Introduction to Durendal's Pourquoi J'ai Raison et Vous Avez Tort videos
Durendal (born March 13, 1988), real name Timothée Fontaine, is a French YouTube video maker who talks about movies.
Originally known as 'Le Démon du Rire'note , he struck fame by recording several MP3 sagas parodying well-known videogames and movies in the early 2000s. In 2012, he decided to create a YouTube channel where he could freely talk about his main passion: cinema. The channel, named 'Le Cinéma de Durendal'note , currently houses his vlogs and other shows. After his laptop was stolen in 2013, he abandoned his Démon du Rire projects to focus entirely on his channel.
Shows created by Durendal include:
- Vlog: Durendal makes a detailed review of a recent box-office release and encourages you (or not) to go and see it. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, unable to review new films as movie theaters were closed in France, he renamed the series as Coronavlogus and talked about older movies, series and some of his favorite films.
- Pourquoi J'ai Raison et Vous Avez Tort: His most popular creation. Abbriviated as PJREVAT, a series of longer videos where he analyses and defends a movie or a cinema-related subject he likes; or breaks down movies that he particularly hates.
- Reaction Shot: a series where he comes back on things he might have left vague or unexplained in his Vlogs.
Tropes associated with Durendal:
- Berserk Button:
- Ridley Scott. Specifically how he handled the Alien franchise since Prometheus (which remains one of his most brutal reviews to date).
- Badmouthing beloved directors of his like Roland Emmerich. Emmerich is really Serious Business for him.
- Caustic Critic: As someone who makes reviews on the Internet, of course he's going to be savage in some of his reviews.
- Geek Physiques: Especially during his Démon du Rire era.
- Non-Indicative Name: His moniker has nothing to do with Roland de Roncevaux's legendary sword Durandal. He revealed in his Planet of the Apes PJREVAT video that he simply chose the name Durendal (note the "e") randomly in a dictionary.
- Pun: Will make one from time to time. An example includes "My sponsor is Nissan al Gaib" in his Dune: Part Two review, playing off "Lisan al Gaib".
- Real Men Wear Pink: He loves Sailor Moon.
- Self-Deprecation: Mostly on his homosexuality.
- Take That, Critics!: Often Lampshaded, mostly in his special videos. For example this quote from his PJREVAT on Gone with the Wind:Durendal: Instead of that, I work more than 507 hours, alone with people spending their time saying that what I do is not real work, and that I'm a fool who doesn't know anything.
- "Take That!" Tit-for-Tat: In December 2014, French radio host Raphaël Enthoven, during a philosophy show, insulted and savagely criticized Durendal. This resulted in the latter responding to the insults, followed by the former giving a counter-response, leading to Internet drama. Although Durendal seems to have come to terms with the incident (even hinting it in some of his videos), Enthoven is still annoyed by this, years later.
- "Take care of yourselves and go watch movies, Ciao!"
