Mon meilleur ami

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

Most folks who know me fully understand my love for foreign film. A few close friends know French cinema is probably my least desired international cinema. Fact is I haven't enjoyed a French film since the 1996 period piece 'Ridicule' which won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film that year. All that changed more than a decade later after watching the French comedy 'Mon meilleur ami' (which has been given the English title 'My Best Friend'.)

The film stars popular French actor Daniel Auteuil whose character, François Coste, is a tough art dealer, wonderful in his craft but has no personal or meaningful relationships. He regularly attends dinner with a group of associates who pointedly make clear that if he died no one would attend his funeral. François is so shocked and embarrassed that he bets a vase, worth 200,000 euro, that he can produce his best friend within 10 days.

François quickly finds he has no friends; even is daughter who occupies his home won't speak to him. His quest to become sociable and win friends is hilarious. Eventually, he meets Bruno Bouley (Dany Boon) a divorced cab driver who is an encyclopedia of unique facts yet magnificently sociable. Bruno gets nervous under pressure but has dreams of using his knowledge to compete on a game show which ultimately lands a spot on the French version of 'Who Want's To Be A Millionaire.' François convinces Bruno to help him get along with others and the chemistry between the two produce nothing less than comedic magic on screen. The two become friends until François does something completely revolting and they go their separate ways.

'Mon meilleur ami' is brilliant comedy, which is very serious about the essence of having a best friend to turn to when you need them most.

Catherine (Julie Gayet) and François (Daniel Auteuil) are partners in a Paris antique business. He has just paid so much at auction for a large Greek vase--itself a symbol of a friend's loyalty--that he's put the firm at risk. Catherine, who accuses François of having no friends, makes him accept a bet. Within ten days he must either come up with a "best friend" or forfeit the vase. François's self esteem now being as much at risk as the firm's finances, he bends to the task.

In the course of telling its story this film glances at some searching questions about friendship. What IS a friend? How many TRUE friends does anyone have? But as a comedy—certainly a very dry one—it ends by being neither revelatory nor funny. Sometimes it doesn't even feel like a comedy, and director Patrice Lecante and his writers may not have quite made up their minds what they were doing in the first place.

Certainly the raw material of comedy is here. All François' bustling efforts to dredge up any real chums, let alone a "best friend," are ludicrous failures. He has a daughter, Louise (Julie Durand), and business associates: no friends there. A high school classmate he thinks was a pal despises him. Everyone says he's an odious fellow, a "con"—an asshole. Along the way François meets a companionable and chatty taxi driver named Bruno (Dany Boon) who takes him around, keeps him company, and gives him tips. Bruno comes up with a "three-S" rule for "friend"-making: be Sociable, Smiling and Sincere. The trouble is that for all his chattiness—he's a wannabe quiz show contestant who compulsively feeds factoids to his fares—Bruno is a misfit with no friends himself. His sociability and smile don't mean he knows how to relate to people: the trivia recitations get in the way of that. As for François, he's clearly a person too wrapped up in himself ever to have connected with others. He goes to a lecture by the author of a self-help book on friendship, but the homely myopic man who befriends him afterward, he quickly abandons.

It's no great secret that this will develop into an offbeat buddy picture featuring François and Bruno. Somehow they will betray, abandon, and find each other again. If a friend is somebody you can call on in your most need, they've turned out to be true pals. Or have they? This, like various other key points, is an issue that's flirted with only to be left hanging.

Director Patrice Leconte, who made 'Monsieur Hire,' 'The Man on the Train,' and by now three films starring Auteuil including 'The Widow of Saint Pierre,' is doing something less ambitious here—but there are haunting, dark elements. We are all alone—as Mrs. Mulwray says in 'Chinatown,' "Isn't everybody?"—and Bruno says so too. Auteuil, who played the angst-ridden TV intellectual in Michael Haneke's 'Caché' recently, and once played the frozen soul of Claude Sautet's 'Un Coeur en hiver,' steps easily into the role of an urbane individual whom nobody likes. But though Auteuil is convincing, he isn't really droll. And the film is full of gaps and puzzles. If François is so odious, why is a good-looking woman wanting to spend her nights with him, and why are all those colleagues so willing to dine with him? Where are THEIR friends? A late sequence in which Bruno finally gets his wish and appears on a French version of "So You Want to Be a Millionaire?" provides a welcome change of scene and mood; but it's also painfully drawn out, and its payoff is obvious.

The principals are good and the package is glossy and attractive. But Leconte has failed to achieve effective comedy or resolved his subject satisfactorily. At the end, when we see his associates and partner celebrating François' birthday a year later, are we to believe he's now well-liked? Excuse me, but what happened? Hasn't the film failed to show the main action it was looking for, François' transformation? Doubtless these questions are not supposed to occur to us; but 'Mon Meilleur ami' is the victim of its own Parisian cleverness. It's too cool and elegant ever to fall into sentimentality. But it provides no credible examples of friendship or of persons who're whole and deeply connected. Catherine has a lesbian girlfriend in her bed at home, but there's no information about this relationship. Bruno's parents are nice little nonentities. Most other characters are mere walk-ons. The well-oiled hinges of this film's scenery move too smoothly and efficiently to allow for ordinariness, specificity, or warmth. Bruno's cheer is obviously fragile. He suffers from a lost relationship, as does François. Though it makes you think, in the end this film like its protagonist seems more manipulative than humane. "I no longer want to do overly serious movies," Leconte has said. He's achieved that goal. But unfortunately what he's made instead is one that's merely empty and a little sad.

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.)

The premise of this film is delightful but the film lacks the fairy tale quality that would have you smiling and loving the characters at the end of the film. It's almost too realistic and, as others have noted, has a cruel streak that makes the film a bit of a downer. Also, the situation the main character finds himself in is depicted as singularly unique, but is it really? We all throw the word "friend" around, but most are really just co-workers or acquaintenances. A friend is someone who has a key to your house and can walk in anytime and you wouldn't be surprised to see him/her there. In truth, Francois's life isn't all that different from many others.