Fergus
01-30-2002, 07:28 PM
My Dinner with Andre
Director: Louis Malle
Cast: Andre Gregory, Wallace Shawn.
PG/1981/110 minutes.
Who are we? What drives us to live through everyday? Are we just floating from day without actually living? Andre Gregory, a world-renowned theater director, caused these questions to rise in my mind, almost, without even trying. He and Wallace Shawn sit down for dinner in some French restaurant in NYC, and talk about life. Life is a task you live through everyday, by default. It is what we know so much about, yet, so little, because life is the most mysterious subject to grace the planet. Why? Because we don’t know exactly why the surrounding objects, and people, etc… are the way they seem to be. Yes, we do have our daily tasks. We go to school—to learn. We go to work—to support ourselves. We live in homes—to feel comfortable and enjoy the passing days. We take out the trash—because it is important that we keep ourselves clean. We sleep—to have energy for the next day. We marry—to have emotional security and keep us happy. We die—because that is what we were intended to do, the moment after we were born. I still do not have one single clue as to what life is about.
As the film began its run, I felt that it might not succeed, because it was and still is—an experiment. Watching two men sit down for dinner is something so simplistic, normal, that you could not possibly foresee what they might talk about. Conversations are improvisations in a way. They come out of nowhere, and two people just take that away, and say what is on their minds. Andre and Wallace (Wally) do this in an entertaining, yet natural way, and create a piece of celluloid that grabs at the mind, making it think, and the two middle aged men carry on with their philosophical ideas, never knowing what word or phrase might cause their talk to move in a different direction. The subject they might be on could cause your mind to identify that certain thing—maybe evolution, for example—and cause you to agree or even, disagree. This is what these two men (who both wrote it) set out to do—stimulate the mind. Their long monologues talk about so many subjects, I’d have to watch it again to get them all down. But these two ordinary men are easy to relate to because you could picture yourself thinking those same thoughts. But, the fact is, you were just unable to find a way of putting those thoughts out, because they all come rushing in at one time, and it is easy to get them mixed up. In the end, you really don’t solve much at all. I know I have a hard time doing that. This film doesn’t solve much either in terms of problems, it merely acknowledges these problems and gets them out into the open. They are just random thoughts and experiences, nothing more.
These two friends, whom haven’t seen each other in years, may not solve any of our worldly, or personal problems, but they bring them up in front, where they can be noticed. A film hasn’t caused me to think like this in a long time; it is very hard to find an extremely well written and acted film, and I consider this one of the great films. I would also like to note the energy expressed by Gregory and Shawn throughout; it is simply a joy to watch them interact, play on each other emotions, and come to new conclusions about life in general. Their monologues contain an intensity that is hard to look away from, and this film puts down any thought that it might become boring listening to these two.
There are no right answers to life, it is mostly interpretational, and some might think that it is not good enough for them… but the fact is: life is like that. That is the reason it should be discussed… by yourself, or with another person. Andre and his counterpart, Wally, accomplish that.
***** out of *****
[This message has been edited by Fergus (edited 01-30-2002).]
Director: Louis Malle
Cast: Andre Gregory, Wallace Shawn.
PG/1981/110 minutes.
Who are we? What drives us to live through everyday? Are we just floating from day without actually living? Andre Gregory, a world-renowned theater director, caused these questions to rise in my mind, almost, without even trying. He and Wallace Shawn sit down for dinner in some French restaurant in NYC, and talk about life. Life is a task you live through everyday, by default. It is what we know so much about, yet, so little, because life is the most mysterious subject to grace the planet. Why? Because we don’t know exactly why the surrounding objects, and people, etc… are the way they seem to be. Yes, we do have our daily tasks. We go to school—to learn. We go to work—to support ourselves. We live in homes—to feel comfortable and enjoy the passing days. We take out the trash—because it is important that we keep ourselves clean. We sleep—to have energy for the next day. We marry—to have emotional security and keep us happy. We die—because that is what we were intended to do, the moment after we were born. I still do not have one single clue as to what life is about.
As the film began its run, I felt that it might not succeed, because it was and still is—an experiment. Watching two men sit down for dinner is something so simplistic, normal, that you could not possibly foresee what they might talk about. Conversations are improvisations in a way. They come out of nowhere, and two people just take that away, and say what is on their minds. Andre and Wallace (Wally) do this in an entertaining, yet natural way, and create a piece of celluloid that grabs at the mind, making it think, and the two middle aged men carry on with their philosophical ideas, never knowing what word or phrase might cause their talk to move in a different direction. The subject they might be on could cause your mind to identify that certain thing—maybe evolution, for example—and cause you to agree or even, disagree. This is what these two men (who both wrote it) set out to do—stimulate the mind. Their long monologues talk about so many subjects, I’d have to watch it again to get them all down. But these two ordinary men are easy to relate to because you could picture yourself thinking those same thoughts. But, the fact is, you were just unable to find a way of putting those thoughts out, because they all come rushing in at one time, and it is easy to get them mixed up. In the end, you really don’t solve much at all. I know I have a hard time doing that. This film doesn’t solve much either in terms of problems, it merely acknowledges these problems and gets them out into the open. They are just random thoughts and experiences, nothing more.
These two friends, whom haven’t seen each other in years, may not solve any of our worldly, or personal problems, but they bring them up in front, where they can be noticed. A film hasn’t caused me to think like this in a long time; it is very hard to find an extremely well written and acted film, and I consider this one of the great films. I would also like to note the energy expressed by Gregory and Shawn throughout; it is simply a joy to watch them interact, play on each other emotions, and come to new conclusions about life in general. Their monologues contain an intensity that is hard to look away from, and this film puts down any thought that it might become boring listening to these two.
There are no right answers to life, it is mostly interpretational, and some might think that it is not good enough for them… but the fact is: life is like that. That is the reason it should be discussed… by yourself, or with another person. Andre and his counterpart, Wally, accomplish that.
***** out of *****
[This message has been edited by Fergus (edited 01-30-2002).]