Un ami parfait (2006) User Reviews

A perfect friend

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 3 June 2008]

Julien Rossi, a journalist from Geneva, wakes up in a hospital bed. He is suffering from a kind of benign amnesia for he has lost his short term memory. He can remember things that happened more than two months ago, but he does not know about what happened to him recently, or even how he got the trauma to his head. Lucas, his friend, comes to see him at the hospital, but he can't tell Julien anything about the state his friend is in. Even when the beautiful Marlene comes, he doesn't even know who she is. Yet, she comes and takes him home, but the person he asks for is Ana.

Julien realizes he has lost his job. Lucas has taken care of informing the newspaper where he works about it. His placed has been filled. Julien realizes that Lucas, who up to recently was gay, has taken up with Ana. What's more, he begins tracing back his life, as it was before what happened to him, and he can't make sense of anything. Ana, who at first doesn't want to see him, comes around to talk to him.

There are forces behind the suicide of a Professor Barth, that seems to be the key to what has befallen Julien Rossi. As he delves into the mystery things get more confused until we get to realize that Julien has been set up by an unscrupulous corporation that has been behind everything. He also discovers the role Lucas has played in the story.

"Un ami parfait" is based on a novel that we haven't read. Francis Girod, the director, also contributed to the adaptation. Perhaps a different approach to telling the story would have worked better. The plot is too convoluted, and at times, it doesn't make too much sense. The viewer not paying close attention to the story will certainly get lost by the different twists and subplots.

I don't know, was it me? I thought that the actor playing Julien Rossi, as he lays in bed was Jean Reno. Of course, looking at the opening credits he was nowhere around. Antoine de Caunes who plays Julien Rossi has great presence and does an outstanding job with his character. Jean Pierre Lorit does well with his Lucas. Carole Bouquet appears as Ana, a minor role in the story. Martina Gedeck fares better as Marlene. Lovely Marie France Pisier has one pivotal scene as the widow of the man who commits suicide.

Although a bit confusing, there is something about "Un ami parfait" that holds the viewer's attention.

Good thriller, awkward title.

[stuka24 · 7/10 · 12 December 2009]

De Caunes, as usual, delivers a convincing performance. And his character isn't exactly coherent. Carole Bouquet, stunningly beautiful as always, does indeed have an important role (I disagree on that with "jotix100" on his IMDb reviewer which, by the way, tells you the plot). Her diction is not the most clear for us who know French as a foreign language, but that really doesn't matter much :). Aurélien Recoing has a funny little role as the physician, reminding us that even in Switzerland and with money, there's something hard to swallow with the profession :). Lorit's Lucas is fine, but somewhat grey, not very convincing. He was gay, then he (can't tell you more). Why? Nothing. Sex toy "Marlene" is also erratic, she shifts moods as we could sneeze under all that snow. Near the end she disappears, no trace of her, no explanation why. Then we have Mme. Monti (Maria Cristina Mastrangeli !), who's way too friendly and risks her job for... what? Too many plot holes, that's surely bad direction/ story, not the cast's fault. Hot Marlene has a couple of "explicit" scenes (for a normal film) totally irrelevant in the plot, but that must be important for some people, given they appear as "plot keywords" of this movie :). "Fully Clothed Sex", "woman on top", "panties", "sex in chair"... Come'on. Weren't this film Swiss :), nobody would be paying attention to the otherwise rather straightforward sex of a "bourgeois guy who wants to get a little kinky".

Charming Marie France Pisier, who played "Iris" on the TV series "Clara Scheller", here has a much more reflexive and subdued role, also very well. The characters I really love from this flick are the Lelièvre brothers. Sleazy, fake, dangerous, they make us realize how easy is to be tricked when dealing with gangsters. And the film itself is a cautionary tale of sorts. Not a very good one, a bit formulaic and stereotyped. But it's engaging, with enough plot twists and not too many characters so as to help us not getting lost in this convoluted story. For instance: "Anna is seeing somebody", then he must be somebody we already know. "Somebody is dead" = the same (who could it be :)?).

Switzerland looks gorgeous but uninviting. Cold, wary, not at all friendly. But very beautiful to look at! Of course, it's rich man's Switzerland. It's funny how the bad weather is so prominent, always snowing and cold, that at a moment Julien says: "I want to see the sun, a blue sky!" (as "the" symbol of "an easy way out").

Enjoy unpretentious entertainment, keeps your brain active.

PS: Given there's another, older movie called "Harry, un ami qui vous veut du bien", and there the title is totally to the point, very ironical, and intelligently chosen, I think they should have used another one.

Thriller

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 20 April 2007]

I watched this movie as part of a double feature at the International Berlin Film Festival! Funnily enough the documentary "Humbert Balsan producteur rebelle" (can also be found here at IMDb) had footage from this film ... the funny part being, that it was shown before the movie!!! ;o)

A thriller about a man who wakes up from a come, but doesn't remember how he got there in the first place. That's the beginning of the movie or let's say the premise.

From there on the movie/plot unfolds. It's acted well and the overall message is a good one too. But it is a little bit to confusing at times (like some of my comments that I have written here on IMDb maybe) and something is missing to make it an great movie!