Review of My Dinner with Andre (1981) by Ryan S — 13 Oct 2007

I can appreciate the complexity of this simple yet multi faceted conversation between two very different intellectuals and I enjoy listening to philosophical concepts, but the problem I had with this film is that it doesn't fully utilize the medium.

Although there are edits, they don't serve much of a purpose. Sure we can better see the faces and emotional reactions of the actors, but in all honesty My Dinner With Andre would be better adapted as a stage play.

I found the acting to be very theatrical, and the monologues unnatural, pretentious and heavy handed. Not to say the performances were bad (they work just fine as a theatrical performance), but I just didn't believe these were real people.

Instead they represented ideologies and archetypes. The film's self reflexive references to Stanislavsky and Brecht among others are serve are interesting, but weren't enough to keep me enthralled.

I think perhaps someone with a comedic touch like Jarmusch could have made this more interesting as his films like Night On Earth mostly consist of casual conversations with hilarious results. With such serious dialogue, in a focused locale, and without offering anything aesthetically pleasing, Malle's film becomes tedious and tiresome.

It seems the bookends consisting of Wally's voice over narration is where the film works best. I was genuinely interested in the characters and their lives, but in the end the execution didn't click for me.