Cuisine et dépendances

The adaptation of plays for the screen goes right for the French cinema as the enormous success of "le diner de cons" (1998) and "8 femmes" (2002) testified. It is not this first movie from the pair Jaoui/Bacri that will prove the contrary. Based on a very successful play written by the quoted couple, there are at least 3 good reasons not to miss this excellent comedy of manners.

First, Agnès Jaoui, the director took more liberty in comparison with the play to diversify the place of the action. This, in order to avoid filmed stage production. A major part of the movie takes place in the kitchen but Jaoui preferred to take her camera in other rooms like the corridors or children's bedroom.

Secondly, the director just hired a handful of actors. But with actors like Jean Pierre Bacri or Jean Pierre Darroussin (who won an Oscar in France in 1994 for his performance), you are nearly sure to have a really good time. Trust me.

Thirdly, brilliant dialogs which reveal the tandem Bacri/Jaoui's big talent give the movie a strong appeal. As soon as we are in the kitchen and from the first cues, you can feel that this party is bound to fail. It begins with nearly trite complaints: "the guests are late" or "the dishes are too salted" but the scriptwriters go further and use their dialogs as a way to unmask their characters. Gradually, tension grows, arguments break out, what is left unsaid prevails and you guess wasted lives, hidden dark secrets or poor existences. In the end, the spoiled party, the rancors are mainly brought on by the most important character of the play: a childhood friend who has become a host TV. you hear about him all night long but we never see him.

With these three assets, it would be out-of-place to reject this delightful comedy. Let's regret just one detail: the scenery of the kitchen seems extracted from a sitcom due to gaudy colors. It is however the seminal place of the plot. Fortunately, the power of words and the actors' game are strong enough to forget this shortcoming.

"Cuisine et dépendances" used to be a play in the early '90s, and was turned into a movie a few years later. In fact, it's the first movie the excellent duo Bacri/Jaoui (" On connait la chanson", "Un air de famille",... and the upcomming "Le gout des autres" ) collaborated to. It's a dinner of 'retrouvailles' between used-to-be-friends, who haven't seen each other for 10 years.

There is the couple welcoming the dinner (Sam Kermann + Zabou )with a friend (Jean-Pierre Bacri ), who has begged - 2 months ago - for a 2 weeks hospitality. As usual, his character is depressive, bad-tempered, jealous and in bad mood. The wife's brother (Jean-Pierre Daroussin), who spends his time losing money in poker, came with 'his new girlfriend Marilyn he met 4 days ago in a disco' to borrow money from her sister. There finally are the real guests: a journalist (Agnes Jaoui) and her husband, a very popular TV star.

The real success of this movie is that we don't see the dinner itself, but people succeeding in the kitchen during all the evening, chatting, revealing us how the dinner is happening, but getting more and more excited. In fact, the movie is so well done that no actors are playing the Marilyn and the TV star characters, without any confusion in the coherence of the story (they're not supposed to be in the kitchen). As in "Un air de famille", the soiree degenerates into a battlefield with people quarelling all around, evacuating their old rancors.

The confrontation between people who have been very close, and then separated for 10 years, having evoluted in differently is well described - and so fun! I don't understand why the average note is around 5 (I gave a strong 8), because it's a real good movie you can enjoy a lot of times ( story, excellent acting, fun score... ). Unfortunately, it's a french movie, meaning that you have to understand well french to really take advantage of the dialogues. Anyway, if you liked that one, look for "Un air de famille", "Kennedy et moi"... in fact every movie of Bacri/Jaoui.

Almost was said by yamaelle, but I didn't like this movie, and I'll say why, this will answer, at least partly to the question 'why is this movie so low-rated ?'... the whole action is in a kitchen. OK, making a movie is a good way to promote an play, but is not enough. The reference adaptation of a french play is "le père noel". This is a postulat, but seems realistic. Here we have some people coming and going in the kitchen, as JP Bacri is the main character, as he is the one who stays the longer. But alas, he is misanthropic, depressing and asocial, so there is no rythm. The dynamic ones, Sam and Martine just make appearances. And the wondrous JP Darroussin and Agnès Jaoui have a supporting play. this is not enough. Le père Noel uses different stages ( the elevator, the drugstore, the café) for adding to the scene play, not this one. I found it fun once, because of JP Darroussin and JP Bacri, but I got bored very quickly ( Sorry for my bad english). Well. It was no fun for me, and I gave it a 4. Both JP Darroussin and JP Bacri are better in other comedies (le goût des autres,un air de famille, and above all mes meilleurs copains) Well. for me it is worth for fans of french play adaptations, but one can skip this one and seek for "mes meilleurs copains" or "un air de famille" instead

This is definitely one of my top ten movies ever!

Ten years after a band of friends lost contact (not all of them), and one of them has become a TV celebrity, they all meet again for a dinner which reveals all the hidden feelings they had.

Directing, set, acting, music... everything is just brilliant and in place. But most of all, the dialogs are fantastic. They slowly reveal the personality of each character and they also uncover what happened ten years before between those friends, without narrating what happened (with only one slight exception). Everything is fluid and smooth, the characters seem extremely real with their history, their feelings (past and present), their hopes and their past disappointments.

A must-see movie!