The movie starts from the perspective of Wally, who dreads this dinner he has been coerced into having with Andre, trudging through the streets of Manhattan.
The conversation at the dinner table is completely dominated by Andre. We know a lot more about what he has been doing and thinking than Wally.
But the film ends with Wally riding home in a taxi, enjoying memories from every street and storefront he passes.
In a way, the relationship between the two men is the main character.
In another, the film really is from Wally's perspective -- even when Andre is dominating the conversation, Wally is watching, listening, reacting silently. Wally's the stand-in for the viewer, the one leading the more everyday life, struggling to survive each day, but fascinated & frightened by the life Andre has lived. Andre has gained much from it, but also feels he's wasted much of it; he's learned a great deal, particularly about himself, but isn't entirely sure he likes what he's learned, because it's stripped away a lot of illusions.
Wally is both drawn to & repelled by this -- he wants the daily illusions, as do we all, though he's smart enough to know that they are illusions.
If any of us really stop & think about the way we live our lives each day, all the ridiculous things we feel compelled to do, the little lies we must tell ourselves & others in order to maintain a smooth operating surface in society -- well, it doesn't take long to realize how absurd & arbitrary it all is. But if we recognize that, how do we go on playing the daily games, knowing that they're ultimately meaningless? Isn't there more to life than that? Andre seems to think so; he seems to think he's glimpsed some of that meaning. But it's meaning that's unsettling, to say the least.
Remember, both men have stated that the characters they play, though based on themselves, are not themselves, but are instead artistic exaggerations to make specific points. Wally is the everyday Us, Andre is the part that yearns, that seeks, that follows imagination. Wally is the part that knows you have to pay the bills, put food on the table, somehow stay alive ... but for what? Maybe his friend Andre has some ideas on that ... but does Wally want to follow them to where Andre has gone?
Andre. Wally was used as the foil and someone the audience could identify with.
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Wally is certainly the POV character, but is there really just one main character? Seems to me that the two men can just as easily be seen as two aspects or viewpoints of the human psyche.
shareAndre is the subject of the movie and he does most of the talking. Wally mostly eats, as has been pointed several out times.
Also, Andre's character is like the archetypal hero who was transformed after a long, lonely journey.
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Also, Andre's character is like the archetypal hero who was transformed after a long, lonely journey.