My Best Friend

Every film festival has a French Farce, and this is not it. My Best Friend is a humourous look at the subject of friendship. What is a friend? Who are your friends? How do you make and keep friends? It stars Daniel Auteuil as Francois, a successful Parisian art dealer, the sort of character we are getting used to see him play. He is perhaps more self-absorbed than is usual but is shocked when he is told at a dinner party that no-one will come to his funeral because no-one likes him and that he has no friends because he doesn't care about anyone else. He sets out to prove them wrong, going through several stages: denial, searching, desperation, learning, failure, deception - all providing fruitful opportunities for comedy. His co-star in this journey is a sociable, chatty taxi driver named Bruno (Dany Boon) who takes Francois under his wing to teach him how to be friendly. Sadly, Bruno who gets on well with everyone and is liked by everyone he meets, is equally friendless, which opens up the next can of worms in the journey to become friends with someone. Can you depend on your friends and can they depend on you becomes the acid test in this philosophical comedy.

Ian's rating: 4/5 Anne's rating 4/5