MY DINNER WITH ANDRE is one of the greatest movies of all time because it works on a seemingly infinite number of levels. Yet at the same time it is one of the biggest failures in film because it only succeeds in connecting to the most insightful of its audience. The resulting paradox only serves to prove the film's lesson to be true. Brilliant!
This is either a movie you will turn off after fifteen minutes, or it is a movie you will watch over and over again to pick up all the things you missed in previous screenings. The former will be bored and lost by the endless, meaningless talk. The latter will find gold in every word, and veins left to be mined time after time.
In simple terms, the question is understood "If life is a stage, are you going to be an actor, a director, or a playwright?" It is the viewer's choice. Wally is a struggling playwright who has fallen back on acting. Andre is a former actor and director who has left the theatre entirely. Wally and Andre meet for dinner, and Andre recounts his experiences since leaving the theatre.
But one of the many ironies is that their dinner itself is theatre, and both Andre and Wally have roles to fill. [Notice they wrote the script and use their real names. They are not playing characters. They are necessarily playing themselves.] And summarily the viewer also has a role to fill. If life is a stage, viewing the theatre is in itself theatre. The viewer is now in a place of filling a role, and the question is will it be done mechanically or deliberately? Mechanically is to be put there by script, or director, or instinct. It is done without thought or personal intention. Mechanics is acting. Deliberation is with personal intention and therefore choice. Deliberation is thought. Deliberation is playwrighting.
This is a brilliant, brilliant film. One of the greatest movies of all time. And its resolve is purely subjective to the individual viewer. The goal is for viewers to deliberate and come away enlightened (literally). Unfortunately the majority of viewers will act mechanically and turn it off.
-- Kevin Walker /IL
-- fideist@NOSPAMxnet.com (-NOSPAM)
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* "Qui me amat, amat et canem meum." *
* ("He who loves me, loves my dog.") *
* -- St. Bernard of Clairvaux *
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