From the director of L’homme du Train comes another pleasant and surprisingly warming film. Initially, however, I got the impression that this was going to be exactly the sort of picture that puts some film lovers off trusting too deeply in European cinema. I happy to argue against the notion that many French films in particular would be classified as worthless were they not foreign language, subtitled and therefore ‘high-brow’ in the UK. Here, however, the opening half an hour does smack slightly of being exactly that. We encounter a literally friendless art dealer (Daniel Auteuil), who after a humiliating birthday dinner with his peers and acquaintances, bets an extremely valuable vase that he can produce a ‘best friend’ in the next ten days. At the same time, we are introduced to Bruno, played by Dany Boon, a quirky and amiable taxi driver, who is also a relative loner. It’s very obvious, very quickly, what the unfolding plot of the film will entail.
However, it would be completely unjust, in the case of this film, to take this failing too seriously. For as much as the plot is uncomplicated and predictable, Francois and Bruno’s journeys to companionship are indeed bright, genuinely funny and uplifting. We’re so used to bleak and subtle humour in respectable independent cinema that while it takes a little adapting to, My Best Friend’s jovial and at times slap-stick comedy is actually very refreshing.
Daniel Auteuil, still basking in the critical acclaim of George Laurent’s international hit, Cache, from a couple of years ago – is absolutely convincing as his somewhat unbelievable character. By not demanding too much empathy, the audience can suspend disbelief and agree that this man could be so loathsome that he genuinely hasn’t a friend in the world. Saying this, women appear surprisingly enamored.
Leconte has shot the film very nicely and it’s been edited with almost television worthy pace, most effective for this type of comedy. The structure of it all works incredibly well also, to crescendo in a gorgeously tense penultimate scene. It’s a simple and sincerely pleasing film.