L'apparenza inganna

Faced with a choice of American "look-alike" movies, I watched this little gem on the basis of the cast alone. What an excellent choice!

This is a brilliantly funny movie, with some unforgettable moments - particularly the "testing department" sequence in the condom factory. The story is amusing, the cast are perfect, particularly Gerard Depardieu's hilarious, touching, crazy mixed up macho/gay guy. The premise, that in order to keep his job a colourless little accountant has to pretend that he is gay (a very tongue in cheek comment on prejudice here) - the can of worms that he opens up has many aspects, both good and bad. And they gave us a happy ending - what more can one ask for? Recommended.

English: "The Closet"

This reminded me in some ways of M. Hulot (Le Vacance de M. Hulot, the greatest comedy I've ever seen), in others of some of the best of the Alec Guiness comedies. Not for style but for quality. It's at their level.

There were fine performances by all the main characters but I was fascinated by the unfolding of the plot. All the pieces fit together so intricately and well and so few liberties were taken of normal human reactions -- almost everything was within comfortable bonds of believability. Well, there were a couple of minor stretches -- the catalyzing role of a sexual encounter in finally transforming M. Pignon's personality was one, but wouldn't that be quaintly Gallic? And the transformation of his son was another, but then -- teenagers can sometimes be unpredictable, can't they? And it had only one broad sterotype, Mr. Santini (Gerard Depardieu). I left the theater amazed at how well the various facets of the plot fit so well together that it reminded me then of a Chinese wood block puzzle; now, a week later, that still seems most fitting.

This is _not_ a movie about being gay; that's only the gas that fuels the car that takes the people on that trip. It _is_ an observant, droll film about office politics and the way people's views of others can be distorted by labels. I'm sure -- within a few years -- this will be considered a classic and deservedly so.

The Closet (2000)

Cute, quaint, well done, and a French feel good comedy. This is nothing brilliant, but it's the equal of lots of American comedies in creating a situation that is filled with built-in laughs. And the leading man, Daniel Auteuil, is funny and sympathetic.

The setting for this all is an office of the most preposterous kind--a condom factory. This is meant to be funnier than it is, actually, but it's a colorful backdrop to the opening salvo--our leading man is not the best accountant and he gets fired. Back home, where his life has left him and his son has stopped talking to him, his neighbor stops him from jumping off the balcony to his death. And concocts a simple plan to keep his job: pretend he is gay.

The hook here is that by being openly gay the man would be able to claim he was fired by the gay bashers at the factory. This doesn't quite hold up, but the key basher is played with nice complexity by Gerard Depardieu, who himself begins to show some latent something or other.

There is plenty of sympathy and warmth to go around here, and lots of appropriate laughs as you empathize with the main guy. Eventually, of course, people discover the ruse and that starts some new jokes. All in all enjoyable and fun, without a dull moment. And that's all you expect or need from this kind of movie.

Francois Pignon is a shy, unassuming accountant in a French rubber manufacturing firm. With redundancies on the way, he knows that, because he is not respected by his boss or colleagues, that he will be the first one out the door. After a discussion with his new neighbour, Pignon fabricates photographs that make himself look undeniably gay – thus preventing his employers from sacking him without making it look like they did it due to his sexuality. When he 'comes out', the rumours start but his job is safe – in fact, the management move to clamp down on the behaviour of one of the management team who is homophobic. Worried for his own job due to his warning, Felix Santini is convinced that, in order to fit with the company line on homosexuality, he must be especially nice to Pignon and show how modern he is. However this only serves to create more misunderstandings within the workplace.

With the natural American remake surely only a matter of years away, I was glad that I had the chance to see this film before the remake rather that afterwards. Able to view it as an original piece of work without any other spin, I found it to be a rather charming little film – slight and lacking real bite but still providing gentle laughs and subtle comment. The plot allows for the film to look at the way that homosexuality has changed over the decades to the point now where it is acceptable and yet still looked down upon (but not openly in public – that is not PC!). It also manages to bring in other threads involving Felix's homophobia, a thread that starts out being very funny but later becomes quite touching and delicate. It never really gets very convincing as a serious plot or a real sharp commentary but it is a light comedy – I didn't expect it to. A heavier plot would have spoilt the enjoyable light mood the film had which does manage to turn a little more serious towards the end without losing the comic spirit it had early on.

Veber is a good comic direction and I have liked several of his films that I have seen. Here he brings together a good cast to build on his witty script. Auteuil is, as he often is, very good. A comic little fool that grows on the audience and develops as a person over the duration of the film, he plays it well and is nicely understated – I hate to think how Hollywood will deal with a character pretending to be gay: terrible camp clichés (Will & Grace, Birdcage) will be much more likely than anything else. Depardieu was a surprise find but he was also very good – starting out in a very comic role at first but skilfully making more of it and making the changes to his character pretty convincing. Support from Lhermitte, Laroque, Aumont and others are all good but the film is easily stolen by Auteuil and Depardieu.

Overall a very enjoyable little film that has a good comic tone as well as an interesting story. Never consistently hilarious or going too much the other way to be pointed and political, it judges the mood just right and has a bit of both, producing a balanced film that, despite being a little slight in several regards, is enjoyable and interesting – I hope the inevitable remake can do it justice.

This is a delightful character study and social commentary masquerading as a broad farce. It is very, very funny. They avoid cheap "queer" jokes and cheap "homophobe" jokes even as they bluntly portray attitudes about homosexuals. Even though they use very real language to illustrate the attitudes. There is some great acting throughout. Each of the characters is a study in itself. The homophobic character (Depardieu) emerges as intriguing and sympathetic, where it could have been two dimensional. The relationship between Auteil and Aumont almost brought me to tears. The transformation of the lead character is believable, despite the improbable context that the film creates. The final scene with his ex-wife is powerful. Others have pointed out that the lead character never changes, the perceptions of others change. This makes his actual transformation that much more effective. This movie is a real find.