With A Friend Like Harry
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Movie Reviews of With A Friend Like Harry
Movie Review: Gives ironic meaning to "The Dagger in the Close of Night."
Summary: 4 Stars
Michel (Laurent Lucas), a French ESL teacher on holiday with his family, unexpectedly runs into Harry (Sergi Lopez) when the family stops for lunch on the way to their remote country house. Harry recognizes Michel immediately as a former school acquaintance and the author of "The Dagger in the Close of Night," a poem Michel wrote in high school and which Harry has memorized. Michel does not remember Harry at all but invites him to spend the night with the family in the country. The relationship becomes more complex as the stay is extended, and both Michel and Harry begin to change. Suspense builds, leading to a grand climax.
This darkly amusing noir drama is filled with irony. Michel and his wife Claire (Mathilde Seigner), two ordinary people, are the parents of three screaming and bickering little girls, and they never seem to get enough time together, so their invitation to Harry is surprising. They need a vacation, yet they are reluctant to ask Harry and Prune, the stereotyped, clueless blonde (Sophie Guillemin) accompanying him, to leave when they stay too long. Harry is distressed to see that Michel no longer has the leisure or the motivation to write but has no clue that this may be a choice, and he actively encourages Michel to resume writing, even while in the bathroom. Other obvious ironies evolve with ensuing events.
Directed by Dominik Moll, who also wrote the screenplay with Gilles Marchand, the film develops slowly. The accident of Harry's meeting with Michel is so bizarre that the viewer may wonder if the meeting is a set-up, and Harry's motivation for his strange behavior is not completely clear, both problems creating more a sense of puzzlement than suspense.
Matthieu Poirot-Delpech's cinematography of the setting in southern France and David Whittaker's romantically moody piano and string music help create a sense of mystery. Sergi Lopez is a terrific Harry, a bumbling and seemingly good-hearted admirer of Michel, and Laurent Lucas as Michel is a suitably frazzled and somewhat overwhelmed teacher on vacation. The film is fun to watch, but I found the lack of clarity regarding motivation to be a problem in the building of suspense and the black humor not strong enough to carry the rest of the film (3.5 stars) Mary Whipple
Movie Review: Disturbing film that is not for all tastes.
Summary: 4 Stars
WIith a Friend Like Harry is a silently terrifying psychological thriller that builds from a sedate family story into a suspenseful horror scenario with the use of spine-tingling cinematography and simple acts of manipulation. There is almost no violence in the film, and the shock value is minimal. Instead, the film relies on the piercing reality of the story it tells, on the intuition of its viewers, and on good old-fashionedscared-of-the-dark fear.In the frenzied heat of midsummer, Michel (Laurent Lucas), his wife Claire (Mathilde Seigner), and their three young daughters are on vacation, headed toward their summer home. Much in need of a some relaxing time off, the family retreats to the secluded stone country house they bought a few years back. Though they have been working hard to restore the place, it has a few minor hazards that need fixing--such the deep, empty well hidden in the back yard. However, before the family even arrives at the house, they encounter Harry Ballestero (Sergi Lopez), who claims to have known Michel in high school. Though Michel doesn't quite remember Harry, he remembers Michel with intense clarity. Harry can recite from memory the poetry Michel wrote for the school journal, and treats Michel like a brother. So begins the family's odd relationship with the smilingly intense Harry and his flaky girlfriend, Plum (Sophie Guillemin), who impose themselves on the family with suffocating congeniality.
While the plot is one that has been done countless times, the film slowly manages to build a sense of overwhelming claustrophobia and jolting suspense. The ending is creepy, made even more disturbing by keeping all the secrets a secret. We never know what motivates the characters to do what they do, adding an extra sense of unease and fear to the story. It comes as no surprise that many people did not like this film, it is definitely not for all tastes, but for anyone who likes unsettling thrillers will enjoy this. It's a standard plot that turns itself into a pretty good thriller.
Movie Review: A REAL PAL
Summary: 4 Stars
The darkest of black comedies, and the best French film of 2000, "WITH A FRIEND LIKE HARRY" (Miramax, $33), arrives on DVD with a slight title change (originally "Harry, he's here to help") and an English dub. Going into too much story detail will spoil the viewing experience. Even a simple summary does not do justice to the dangerously wicked unfolding of the story that starts when two guys Michael (Laurent Lucas) and Harry (Sergi Lopez) bump into each other in the men's rooms of a rural gas station. It seems they went to school together but haven't seen each other for at least a decade. Harry vividly recalls some good times that don't seem to mean much to Michael.
Harry and his fiance end up at the country home of Michael, his wife and two screaming kids. Michael tells Harry, who is rich, about the pressure of helping his aging parents and problems with his scheming brother. This is a slick, ironic, taught, cynical, intense and unexpected thriller, minimalistically written and stylishly directed by Dominik Moll. Finishing the implied title phrase ("With a friend like Harry ... who needs enemies?") is not giving away any secrets because in actuality, scary Harry is only the id to Michael's ego. Watch it in French with English subtitles, it's even better. Or worse. Depending on your frame of mind.
Movie Review: Boundary problems . . .
Summary: 4 Stars
Harry is one of those over-friendly people who seem to have no idea when they're getting too close to someone else - being too intimate, invading privacy, and taking inappropriate liberties. We get this about him from the start, as he makes his first move - in of all places a men's room - and the creepiness sets in long before we sense that he's more than a little obsessive, if not totally psychopathic.
Set in an isolated old farmhouse in the hilly, wooded French countryside, the story has misadventure written all over it, and viewers can gleefully let themselves sink into 2 hours of growing dread as Harry stealthily goes to town on the innocent family he adopts - all with a well-meaning smile on his face (not to mention the occasional odd quirk) and a sweet girlfriend by his side. As many others have already said here, it's a nicely done thriller that will keep you guessing and biting your nails to the diabolical end.
Movie Review: mind-bending, creepy, highly entertaining
Summary: 4 Stars
I saw this movie in the theatre the first time and was totally confused as to the Harry character. After reading reviews and watching it again many years later, I'd agree that the Harry character is supposed to represent the id or dark side of Michel's personality. Those evil impulses that everyone has and suppresses either because they want to or have to are in this story personified in Harry. Harry goes on to act out these evil impulses.
Some clues: Michel first meets Harry while looking at his reflection in the mirror. Michel's conversations at night in the kitchen with Harry sound like a guy debating conflicting ideas in his own head. No one comes looking for Harry and Plum at the end. By the movie's end it seems that Michel has sold himself out or given in to his dark side in some way - I guess that's the main point.
Very entertaining.