Themes: Haunted By the Past, Redemption, Writer's Life
Main Cast: Wallace Shawn, Andre Gregory
Release Year: 1981
Country: US
Run Time: 110 minutes
Plot
A extended conversation between two old friends over dinner proves an unexpectedly fascinating subject for a film in the critically acclaimed My Dinner with André. The talkers in question are André Gregory, a renowned experimental theater director, and playwright and actor Wallace Shawn, both of whom play themselves. The film is not a documentary, but a condensation of several real discussions fashioned into a dramatic exchange by Shawn and director Louis Malle. The subtle conflict stems from the differences in the men's characters: Gregory is an inquisitive, uninhibited wanderer, willing to travel to remote lands to take part in unusual foreign rituals, while Shawn is the cynical, realistic New Yorker, more concerned with the challenges and rewards of day-to-day city life. Malle approaches their philosophical yet playful back-and-forth with a straightforward, minimal style that only rarely wanders outside its restaurant setting. The focus therefore falls on Shawn's and Gregory's contrasting verbal styles and facial expressions, highlighting conversational nuances normally lost on film. While the idea of watching any conversation for over 90 minutes, no matter how fascinating, may turn off some viewers, enough audiences have supported the film to make it an art-house classic. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
Review
It would be difficult to sell Hollywood producers on a movie that was nothing more than an extended conversation between two friends at a restaurant. Yet the risk-taking director Louis Malle turned this talk-fest into an art-house success. My Dinner with André is in many ways the ultimate art-house movie: low budget, highly philosophical, and demanding an intellectual audience's unstinting attention. Malle used two theater veterans, actor-playwright Wallace Shawn and director André Gregory, to play themselves, using a script based on their actual discussions. The film works surprisingly well, primarily because the two men seem to have opposite temperaments: Shawn shy and cynical, Gregory curious and adventurous. The camera rarely wanders away from the dinner table, yet the film's impact is considerable; Malle lets the audience unloosen its own imagination and thoughts, and the effect is much like listening intently to an excellent radio play. My Dinner with André is a one-of-a-kind film, and its success is unlikely to be repeated. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
Louis Malle - Director, Suzanne Baron - Editor, Stephen McCabe - Production Designer, David Mitchell - Production Designer, Jeri Sopanen - Cinematographer, Lloyd Kaufman - Production Manager, George W. George - Producer, Jean-Claude Laureux - Sound/Sound Designer, Andre Gregory - Screenwriter, Wallace Shawn - Screenwriter, Erik Satie - Featured Music
The film depicts a conversation of two acquaintances in a chic restaurant in New York City. Based mostly on conversation, the film's dialog covers such things as experimental theatre, the nature of theatre, and the nature of life. The dialogue contrasts Shawn's modest, down-to-earth humanism with Gregory's extravagant New-Age fantasies.
Filming
The movie was filmed in the then-abandoned Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, Virginia. Although the film was based on actual events in the actors' lives, Shawn and Gregory denied (in an interview by film critic Roger Ebert) that they were playing themselves, and stated that if they remade the film they would swap the two characters to prove their point.
The Boston Society of Film Critics Awards awarded the film the title "Best American Film" in 1982 and awarded Gregory and Shawn its prize for best screenplay. Roger Ebert, along with his TV partner Gene Siskel, had also praised the film and helped bring public attention to it; in 1999, Ebert added it to his Great Movies essay series.
The 24th episode of the first season of Frasier was entitled "My Coffee With Niles" and involved a long conversation between Frasier and Niles which touched on many topics of their lives and involved Niles recurrently asking the question "Are you happy?"
