My Best Friend (2006)

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.

Fmovies: This frenchman(Daniel Auteuil) is just amazing in his way to convince in almost any kind of emotionally role. Here he plays the distant and at the same time so kind person with a natural attitude as if it was reality. A year ago i watched the film "La fille sur le pont" (aka. The girl on the bridge), today that is my favorite film of all times. That is the only reason for me for only giving a 9 to this one. I've now seen all his films that i could get with subtitles, as I don't speak french. I am very sorry because of the ratings so far. Due to my opinion this film is a little pearl. It is not a big masterpiece, but so well made and perfectly acted that it, due to my opinion, has deserved more. I think the whole theme friendship is more important then ever in this busy world, so it leaves a little bit to think about after watching it. For those who haven't seen the film, I would like to say: just lean back and enjoy it!

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

My Best Friend fmovies. I'll be brief because I doubt if Britain or US will see it before long. I saw it in France. It is the latest Patrice Leconte's film. This film comes after L'Homme du Train and is called MON MEILLEUR AMI (My Best Friend). Daniel Auteuil is an antique dealer who has no friend. His business partner challenges him to find a single friend. The most refreshing feature of this film is its total lack of political correctness (but is there any PC French among my compatriots?) They all say what they think without a second thought and this generates delightful dialogues full of Gallic humour and embarrassingly funny situations. What's more, this desperate quest for a friend and Auteuil trying to define friendship, make you ask yourself uncomfortable questions about your own friends!

I gave him 10/10, even if the screenplay isn't so strong, because this is a movie perfect in his genre:

I'm not a moralist, and I don't become upset if I see a comic film that uses vulgarities with the aim to make me laugh; if the movie is funny, I think it reached his goal, and it has my applause.

But this one, that hasn't vulgarities at all, made me laugh even much. In years in which seems that vulgarity is the better way to make laugh, this is a masterpiece.

A masterpiece to show everyone to spend 2 enjoyable hours together.

Talking about his weaknesses, I thought that last scenes could be directed in a better way, but the excellent Auteil's performance and the funnies gags, according to my tastes, fulfill everything.

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