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Louis Malle |
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Even today, some viewers may approach this film as something of a quaint novelty, and indeed, it represents a rather rare and interesting feat in that its two-hour running time revolves entirely around a conversation between two men. But the crucial distinction between those who adore this film and those who despise it lies in their perception of what My Dinner with André purports to be about: detractors see in the characters' bull-session-style monologues Malle's effort to broadcast some overwhelming statement on the nature of reality, while benefactors prefer to see an aim to capture two human beings, enrapt in conversation, who simply like to think and converse about life for nothing other than the sheer sake of it. In fact, the film achieves its success on a dimension far beyond the one inhabited by its stars, Wallace Shawn and André Gregory. It is not about metaphysical rumination in and of itself, but about the people who partake in this rumination and how it enriches their existence in general. The film's critics who label the screenplay "pretentious" seem to have been provoked into a personal philosophizing contest with the characters themselves, as if they're attacking fictional personages instead of the filmmakers who actually fleshed them out. By concentrating on what may only be the characters' intellectual inadequacies (certainly not Malle's), these viewers have blinded themselves to the textural richness of one of the most gracefully realized renditions of human dialogue ever committed to celluloid. |
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My Dinner with André |
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capsule review by André de Alencar Lyon |
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Louis Malle |
