Il mio migliore amico

I adored this movie screened in Sydney independent theaters. Following, perhaps an overdose of G depardieu I learnt to appreciate very much Daniel Auteuil. I remember discovering both of them in Jean des Florettes and Manon des Sources. Both have gone a long way now. I liked the theme very much and I also know time where my best friend was only my shadow, this earned me top mark in an essay we had to write. So looking for a best friend can be very interesting. This film indeed makes this pursuit very interesting and enjoyable. I was surprised that comments gave it a just above average rating when I feel even a little guilty not to have gone for a perfect ten Go and see it you'll have a good time

Patrice Leconte's "Mon Meilleur Ami" (My Best Friend), as the title suggests, is all about friendship. Real friendship.

Francois (French star Daniel Auteuil) is a middle-aged Parisian with everything you could ever want - a rewarding job as an antique dealer, a stylish flat, a loving girlfriend, and a teenage daughter. What he doesn't realize, but soon brutally learns, is that he doesn't have any true friends!

The bet is made. Francois has 10 days to come up with a best friend to show off to his colleagues. If he doesn't, he will lose his newly acquired antique Greek vase. And so, the search begins. What we witness is a hilarious quest to find true friends, one that resonates well in real life. As Francois rides through Paris in search of his bet-winning friend, he encounters a trivia-know-it-all cab driver, Bruno (captivating Dany Boon). As the two meet over and over again in comical situations, we begin to wonder, did Francois finally meet his new best friend?

It's fascinating to watch these charming characters go through these experiences with friendship, something that we have all gone through. You will go through a whole range of emotions as you watch this film, laughter, shock, sadness. But in the end, this film reminds us what is really important in life - our relationships with people.

This film reminds of "Le Diner de Cons" with the great Jacques Villeret, and as that film, this one has something for everyone. I strongly recommend you to see it!

(My review is from the world premiere on September 12th, 2006 at the Toronto International Film Festival.)

There is no wonder that François (Daniel Auteuil) doesn't have any friends. He arranges to see an antique with the widow at a man's funeral. He can't even wait a respectable time. He only thinks of himself when he overbids on a Greek vase with the gallery's money.

His partner Catherine (Julie Gayet), who he didn't even know was a lesbian, bets he has no friends. She bets the vase and gives him 10 days to produce a friend.

He quickly finds out that no one likes him.

Auteuil was fantastic in last night's The Closet, and he has the same hound dog expression in this film. He was boring in that film; here he is just self centered. He even resorts to Dial-a-Friend.

He resorts to getting lessons from a cabbie, Bruno Bouley (Dany Boon), who makes friends easily, but he even blows that, his one chance at friendship.

He makes up for it secretly, and the two end up as friends.

Writer/director Patrice Leconte had a great film, and I certainly want to see more of his work.

Some are lucky to have so many friends that identifying a best friend is not easy; others have none. Francois (Daniel Auteuil) makes a bet with his business partner, Catherine (Julie Gayet), and friends at his birthday dinner that within ten days he can show them his best friend. They are confident he cannot.

A simple premise, a simple bet most of us could win given the same amount of time. Patrice Laconte in My Best Friend has once again created a sometime two-hander in which Francoise engages an outgoing cabbie, Bruno (Dany Boon), to help him identify the traits of a best friend and subsequently dredge said friend out of Francoise's past or present. The film is spent largely on the search, smoothly humorous and poignant in tracing the growing friendship between the two hunters and revealing the vagaries of any friendship, best or regular.

The notion of the challenge inherent in the bet is carefully parsed with a series of characters and incidents that do more to define who Francoise is as a human being than who that uber friend might be. The leitmotif best exemplifying the fragile and elusive nature of best friendship is an expensive antique vase dealer Francoise buys on impulse and becomes the prize for the bet. There's a parallel between the vase and the friendship that could easily be drawn by a discerning, often European audience. Another avenue of exploring the meaning of friendship is the competition on the French version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Americans should take notice of the film's excellence at this point.

Another sub theme comes in the relationship between Francoise and his business partner, an attractive woman with multiple challenging friendships herself. And then the other friends at the party. Everyone, it seems, must deal with friendship, whether in a bet or reality.

For some Americans, the whole idea of deconstructing friendship in a movie might be uncomfortable and boring. In the hands of a master director, it is amusing and shocking.

MON MEILLEUR AMI (MY BEST FRIEND) is a gift from France to movie lovers. Though it can be considered a 'comedy' in the French tradition, it is also a fine examination of the importance of friendship in a world too cluttered with 'acquaintances' passing as friends. Just what a 'friend' means is only one important message of this lovely film: the manner through which we identify meaningful relationships is the other.

Writer/Director Patrice Laconte (Intimate Strangers, The Man on the Train, The Widow of Saint-Pierre, The Girl on the Bridge, Tango, The Hairdresser's Husband, Monsieur Hire, etc) knows how to take an idea and allow it to blossom without distortion or preaching. He understands the intimacy of friendships and knows how to draw superlative performances from his actors - an obvious extension of the concept of friendship! François Coste (Daniel Auteuil) is an antiquities dealer with his lesbian partner Catherine (Julie Gayet), and while François is a successful businessman, he is a self-centered isolationist who has never been able to make or retain friends, a fact that is put before him at the scantily attended funeral of an associate. François and Catherine attend an auction where François pays a high price for an antique Greek vase, a receptacle for the tears of an ancient man's friend. This purchases encourages Catherine to challenge François to a bet: François must introduce to Catherine a 'best friend' within ten days or the vase belongs to her. François, oblivious to the fact that he is completely without friends (including his own daughter Louise - Julie Durand), accepts the challenge and so the search for friends begins. François exhausts his possibilities, all the while being driven about Paris by a loquacious taxi driver 'Balanchine'/Bruno Bouley (Dany Boon) who has his own problems: he has worked all his life to prepare for a fact-answering position on a television game show, but suffers from a severe case of nerves when before a crowd. Very gradually the two men bond and François realizes Bruno is the closest thing he has to a friend. A plan is hatched which will apparently benefit both men's weaknesses, but as life often does, surprises alter the plans. How the film ends is so tender that sharing it would destroy the fluid progression of Leconte's storytelling.

Both Auteuil and Boon are superb in the leading roles and yet every minor role is in the hands of the cream of France's crop of supporting actors. The pacing of the film, the cinematography, the musical score, and the script are perfectly melded. Yet it is the magic hand of Patrice Laconte that makes this movie understated and wholly credible, allowing the audience to relate to the sensitive weaknesses of the two men and grow into their tenuous relationship. It is a joy to watch and remember. Grady Harp