MovieChat Forums > Mon meilleur ami (2007) Discussion > Aren't his co-workers sort of monsters?

Aren't his co-workers sort of monsters?

posted 14 years ago by JBoze313
5 replies | jump to latest

So, I DVRed this on Sundance channel. It says comedy, but I didn't laugh once...I see no comedy here at all. Not that I disliked the movie. I did like it. It was really depressing though.

My issue from the start were his contacts/colleagues that had dinner with him. I don't care how "unlikeable" this guy is- these people were monsters. Maybe it's a difference of culture, but in the US you'd never have dinner with someone and mercilessly attack them as being a loser with no friends and that no one likes you. I kept thinking to myself, who cares what these horrible people have to say about anything? Why justify yourself to a bunch of terrible people who would treat anyone that way?

Maybe this is how the French are? I honestly have no idea.

They try to portray him as some terrible guy who cares about no one, but from what we actually saw, it didn't seem to be the case...more of a situation where he was sort of socially inept and just bad at connecting with others.

The whole horrible "friends" thing...it was just very odd. That aspect of the movie bugged me though. Everytime they came into the scene, I couldn't help by say out loud, "these people are monsters!"

[–] maestro-45 14 years ago

I agree that his co workers might not be the most sympathetic people in the world. However the way that François is portrayed, he is not too sympathetic, actually quite manipulative. Recall that at the very start of the film François attends a funeral and at first he seems to be concerned about the dead guy. Then while talking to the deceased mother he slips it to her and asks about some furniture he would like to get his hands on -- kind of like an ambulance chaser after an accident. Further, that woman who was interested in him -- he is a real cold fish toward her. That is why everyone says he is friendless -- it might have been pushing it a little bit, but in terms of this movie it is sufficient to launch a terrific character study. I watched every minute of it, even rewinding to catch points that went by too fast. I highly recommend it!

[–] Jeromagnus 14 years ago

An ambulance chaser would have be more respectful than François at the funeral !
It was part of the comedy tough.

I'm not French but I saw a lot of French movies and yeah, it's definitely a comedy ("comédie de genre"), very praised by French in general. You need not to take it at first degree though, and it's really enjoyable. And don't worry, French are not like that, it's just a movie style.

Personnally, I laughed a lot:
- When I realized he was talking on the phone in a church while waiting for the corpse (his rendez-vous);
- When he tried desperately to be sympathetic with random people in the garden;
- When he was chasing his "best friend" at the supermarket and his best friend happens to be his worst ennemy.

[–] vicky_lc2001-1 11 years ago

Have you heard of a particular type of depression amongst Japanese tourists in France? They travel there thinking of romantic & beautiful French people & their country until they are brutally faced with the harsh reality that the people are just not nice. Specialists are brought in from Japan to take care of these tourists who had a major depressive breakdown. That really says a lot doesn't it?

[–] vicky_lc2001-1 11 years ago

This scene was quite appalling to me too. Except I thought it was a Westerner thing. I'm from the Philippines & here we would not have dinner with someone & attack them or gang up on them as they did here without provocation even. I wondered if this was the usual personalities in such a culture as no explanation was made which led to such vicious attacks. If he was a horrible man, they were equally as horrible, especially that female colleague.

[–] spookyrat1 11 years ago

"The whole horrible "friends" thing...it was just very odd."

I have to disagree with you. The acquaintances didn't attack him.

They were honest with him when he got into a disagreement which turned into a bet with Catherine his business partner, who wanted to be Francois's friend, but who had realised he wanted to keep things purely on a business relationship. Francois then had to admit he knew nothing at all about Catherine, including the fact she was gay, despite working closely with her for a number of years.

All they did was admit when challenged by him, that they didn't see him as a friend, because he displayed no friendly qualities in front of them.

I don't see a problem with that. They'd obviously in the past put up with his anti-social behaviour at many another gathering.

BTW at the end, when he has turned the corner, you can see some of them at his birthday party, which tells us that now they were friends.