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"The
Closet"
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By Mira Harber
One of the
refreshing things about the French comedy The Closet is that
it is resolutely NOT politically correct. Four bona-fide French movie stars
are in this amusing tale of an incredibly boring accountant who is about
to lose his job.
Francois Pignon
(the brooding Daniel Auteil, last seen in Buffalo as the defiant military
husband in The Widow of St. Pierre) plays the anit-hero of the story. He
has worked at the same job in the same place - a condom factory- for twenty
years and now he is about to be fired. He’s the kind of man who does his
job, makes no trouble, and look at the reward he gets! His really
bitchy wife left him two years ago (he still loves her madly) and he is
sneered at by their teen-aged son. He is dismissed as a bore by his colleagues
- until now.
When faced
with the prospect of unemployment, Pignon tells his sad tale to his next
door neighbour, a lonely old man named Belone (Michel Aumont) who has only
a small grey kitten for companionship. Belone comes up with an idea - in
these politically correct days who would dare to fire a gay man, especially
in a condom factory? He concocts some misleading photos of Pignon, sends
them to his office and suddenly Pignon’s world changes. He’s not
a bore, he was being discrete. Instead of being fired, he’ll be promoted.
His sexy boss now finds him intriguing. Even his wife and son take a new
interest in him.
The main actors
in this film are French heavy-weights. Gerard Depardieu plays the homophobic
head of personnel, Jean Rocquefort the company CEO, and Thierry Lhermitte
the office troublemaker. With all of this firework this could have been
a brilliant movie, instead it’s just a cute little comedy that is a nice
way to while away 90 minutes, but it won’t change your life.
If you’re looking
for some fun, nothing too thought provoking, and want to see four of the
best French actors around having fun, The Closet is the film for
you. |
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