The Closet

Francis Veber

 French with English subtittles

DVD 2001

 

This delightful, poignant comedy brings humor to a serious issue, homophobia. with such great love, warm and even significant depth to remind the viewer of Charlie Chaplin at his best.

I would have written a scathing review due to the ill treatment of the women in this film except that upon closer examination I realized that all the characters (including the kitten) were stick figure types without a shred of depth and that in essence is what makes this film all the more enjoyable and profound.

The one dementional character sketch brings out the viewer’s seemingly inherent prejudice against the homosexual even when the viewer feels safe from such ugly, knee jerk type thoughts.

Plot:

François Pignon (Daniel Auteuil) is a non-entity accountant, divorced two years but still in love with his wife and wanting a better relationship with their 17 year old son. Then, he is the last in his company to hear that he is to be fired.

A neighbour, Belone (Michael Aumont) suggests that Pignon create the impression that he is gay, so that the company executives will find it difficult to fire him or else be thought homophobic. The plan works. 

Although this film received only one award, from the 2001  Shanghai International Film Festival I found the experience of watching the ins and outs of this simple yet succinct plot totally delightful

A must see film for those moments when life seems dull and in serious need of a “pick me up”.

LindaZ

WBAI women’s collective