Mon Meilleur Ami - My Best Friend

This subtitled French film, directed by Patrice Leconte, is a gentle comedy telling the story of self-interested antiques buyer Francois, played by Daniel Auteuil, who purchases an expensive vase on a whim at an auction with money which he and his business partner do not have. The film opens with Francois’ anecdote about an old customer’s funeral that only drew a crowd of seven people, after which he is told that he himself has no friends and no one will be attending his funeral. The film then focuses on the bet between Francois and his business partner that he does indeed have friends and his search for a best friend, to be introduced within 2 days, the stakes being the expensive vase that he is so fond of.

On his travels, he stumbles across taxi driver Bruno (Dany Boon) who he enlists the help of to make him ‘sociable, shining and sincere’ in order to win his bet and find his best friend.

Dany Boon shines in this, as the hopeless taxi driver who knows a bit of information about everything, yet clams up every time he interviews for his dream— a place on a quiz show. His face is perfect, he looks genuinely nice, and his smile is friendly. He is perfectly bitter at times, given his tragic past, which makes his part of the story more endearing.

On the other hand, Auteuil, plays his role very well, but this is part of the problem. Throughout the film we are given few reasons to actually like his character. His daughter’s and his business partner’s relationships aren’t as clearly detailed as they could have been, although this may actually have made the film more interesting because, in the end, the only person worth caring about appears to be Bruno.

The film does, however, get top marks for not being as predictable as trailers and reviews might leave you thinking, but it is a very slow comedy and not for anyone with a low attention span. The soundtrack and a lot of the language used in it is very typically French, so if you are a fan of French film, then it’s worth a look, even if not, its far better than anything Spiderman 3 has to offer.

A little bit of a disappointment, but a sweet story nonetheless.