Mon Meilleur Ami
My Best Friend stars the ubiquitous (in French cinema, anyway) Daniel Auteuil as a fast-dealing antique and art collector who is accused by his soft-spoken business partner of having no friends at all and no ability to make a friend. Scandalized by the audacity of the accusation, Francois (Auteuil) makes a 200,000 Euro bet with his partner Catherine that he will present his best friend to her in ten days. Described this way, the setup sounds like a distinctly Hollywood gimmick. But the movie is pure French in tone. Auteuil does his usual splendid job of creating a likeable character, even when the character is so manifestly unlikeable. He initially takes on the task of finding a friend in the same way he looks for a good buy in the art and antiquities market. He tries to get expert advice from sociable people. He performs experiments at the department store and in the park. He attempts to throw money at the problem. Of course these efforts don’t go very far and it is late in the 10-day game that he realizes he may have inadvertantly gained a friend in the amiable taxi driver Bruno (played by French comedian Dany Boon (yes, really)). He’s so excited that he’ll win his bet that he fails to realize what having a friend and being a friend mean. If it sounds a bit trite, perhaps it is. It is the kind of comedy that leaves you smiling more than laughing. Thankfully, though, there is no sermonizing message on the meaning of friendship, just a frank (pun intended) portrayal of different characters who need friendship, even if one of them doesn’t realize it.
As a side note, we saw this at the Enzian Theater and Cafe in Winter Park, one of the few places in Central Florida where it is even possible to see a foreign movie. We were a bit spoiled by the dozen-or-so screens showing independent and foreign movies in the Denver-Boulder area. The Enzian is a dinner theater for movies, with a full dinner menu and waiter service at your table while you watch the movie. For lighthearted fare like this movie, that works great. For more emotionally involving movies, though, I think the ambience, with its soft lighting and rustle and bustle of waiters, would be a distraction.