Review of My Dinner with Andre (1981) by Bill K — 13 Nov 2009

A film about truth, art, theatre, reality, human relationships, and a bunch of other subjects, but basically a film about awareness. Awareness of the person as a human being, awareness of the artist, as a cretive force that changes and shapes our perception of reality- all those difficult subjects that are hard to define, here are treated easily, without effort, just as the going to a casual dinner with an old friend.

But we all know that dinner with an old friend is never simple. In this case we hear about Andre and his mental problems beforehand, so every crazy story he shares with us in the beginning, almost doesn't make sense, until the film wraps up. It takes a bit of patience, to grasp the meaning, as he shares all the details of a mad "awakening"session with Grotowski's group in a Polish forest, but it's never dull. After all, to find the meaning, one has to look from outside, outside reality, in this case. All those acting exercises, they are surreal.

Don't even get me started on direction. Louis Malle uses every detail carefully, uses the body language of the actors and the mirrors in the room, even the coming and going of the waiter, as a valued comment that propels the story.

I feel sorry for people who don't get Louis Malle, because they are just missing too much. Anyone who's wondering how could a director make a film about two people talking that lasts two hours (without them ever leaving the table), and not be boring... well you should really see this. It's never boring. You just have to get the point everytime, and everytime they go on telling another story, follow the thread. In the end you might as well discover, what evades anyone, from time to time: meaning.