My Dinner with Andre - with many spoilers

My Dinner with Andre is a well respected, high brow dramatic production from Louis Malle. The majority of the film takes place in a restaurant where Andre Gregory and Wallace Shawn play themselves and discuss life, the arts and experiences they have each had.

This film is widely considered a classic and was even parodied by the hit TV show Community in the episode ‘Critical film studies’ (season 2 episode 19).

Verdict

My movie ratings consist of thumbs up or middle fingers as sometimes one starring something doesn’t shame it enough. 5 thumbs up = an absolute triumph. 5 middle fingers = a complete piece of shit, go fuck yourself.

My Dinner with Andre - 2 middle fingers This movie was uneventful, long and boring. It was everything I expected a film about two men eating dinner would be whilst having a pretentious conversation in a high class restaurant.

It was saved from the full 5 middle fingers by the standard of acting. It must have been a very difficult task remembering all of the lines required for this movie. The piano tune was also quite pleasant.

Favourite quote “I could always live in my art, but never in my life“ is probably one of the quotes My Dinner with Andre rather arrogantly wants you to take from the movie. Or perhaps the even more self-absorbed “I thought I was living my life, but in fact I haven’t been a human being. I’ve been a performer... I haven’t been living, I’ve been acting“. My personal favourite quote is “Give me 40 Jewish women to teach the harp in the forest”. Which was just some of the nonsense Andre was spouting over dinner.

Favourite scene

The final scene of Wallace looking out of the taxi window whilst admiring the streets he knows so well was quite nice. There is a sense that he is valuing the little things he is grateful for and is looking forward to seeing his wife again. The piano music plays during this scene. That shouldn’t be memorable. But it is. Nothing else happened.

Best meme from the movie

Analysis Wallace orders potato soup to start, Andre opts for pate. Both order the quail for their main dish. Neither fancy dessert so they both settle on an espresso. Wally has a cheeky amaretto.

Here are the highlights from the movie:

21 minutes into the movie - The starters arrive

46 minutes into the movie - The main course is served

57 minutes into the movie - some accompanying green vegetables arrive at the table

84 minutes into the movie - The waiter offers the pair dessert

93 minutes into the movie - The espressos arrive

Wally pays for the meal.

...Some wine was also poured around the 28 minute mark.

This movie is a great depiction of what it is like to eat in a restaurant. Meals often take this length of time, and some actually go on longer when dessert has been requested. If post lock-down Britain forgets how to go out and eat dinner then this movie will serve as a very valuable reminder. My one criticism is that the vegetables didn’t arrive until 11 minutes after the quail. In a high end restaurant such as the one they’ve chosen to eat in I would have expected slightly better. Hopefully Andre didn’t leave a tip.

Wallace is completely pathetic for most of the film, hiding behind nervous questions and barely speaking until 54 minutes in when he suddenly starts to challenge some of Andre’s ideas. His character is that of someone who hasn’t quite realized their dreams but is still chasing them. He considers himself a playwright, then an actor, then whatever his actual job is that he uses to pay the bills and put food on the table.

Andre also isn’t living in the real world. It seems that he is quite privileged and has always had money. He has tired of the dream that Wallace is chasing of being a successful playwright as he has already accomplished it. He’s hit a certain age and is quite obviously having a mid-life crisis and a bit of a breakdown and chats about some of the crazy shit he’s been doing to try and make life seem anything more than a waste of time. Which, of course, it isn’t. He chats for ages about all sorts of nonsense; leading a ‘beehive’, experiencing a Polish baptism, meeting a fawn in the woods, raspberry soup, eating sand in the desert, allowing a Japanese monk to babysit his kids and he even reminisces over buckaroo-ing a sleeping couple at an acting retreat. All this and more, with a lot of references to Nazi Germany.

It’s hard to tell what message is supposed to be taken from this film. There’s a thin line between genius and insanity? Andre is clearly very articulate. He would probably make a good politician, but he talks about things that aren’t real such as fawns and he doesn’t seem to understand how gravity works when he mentions a roof he erected in Scotland whilst acting as some sort of hippy cowboy builder. Maybe it’s all a lesson in being content? Andre has been all over the world and still has not found the happiness that Wallace has found simply from drinking yesterday's old cold coffee. Or perhaps it’s just as the opening credits describe it:

Andre Gregory

Wallace Shawn

In a film

The bottom line

If this movie came out today it would be a podcast. A wankery one that noobody would like.

I hated this movie. I’d probably recommend it to someone I wasn’t fond of as an act of petty revenge, but that’s it.