"With a Friend Like Harry..."
Every so often, a filmmaker, usually European, takes on the task of making a "Hitchcockian thriller." Paul Verhoeven was successful with his lurid and sexy 1983 flick, "The Fourth Man." George Sluizer gave the master an even better turn in the Dutch/French produced "The Vanishing." Now, West German born Dominik Moll takes a shot at Hitch with his own psychological thriller, "With a Friend Like Harry...."
Alfred Hitchcock still holds the mantle of master of the chilling thriller, but it is nice to see a film that ably pays homage to the late, great filmmaker. Helmer Moll, working with a script co-written with Gilles Marchand, begins his film on a discordant note as we watch a young couple and their three restless kids drive off to the French countryside for vacation. The kids are cranky, it's hot and the drive is taking on interminable proportions for dad, Michel (Laurent Lucas).
When the family takes a break at a rest stop, Michel meets a man who claims to know him. Harry (Sergi Lopez) tells him that they knew each other in school, years before, but Michel can't recall the man at all. This doesn't stop Harry from insinuating himself and his buxom fiancée, Plum (Sophie Guillemin), on Michel and his wife, Claire (Mathilde Seigner), and their vacation plans. The couple has an old farmhouse, which they are struggling to restore, in the countryside and the newcomers promptly plunk themselves down to stay, changing their own plans to go see the Materhorn.
Everything starts off seemingly innocent, but the odd-acting Harry definitely has his share of enigmatic quirks. Late one night, while Michel is taking care of the baby, he announces that he needs to eat a raw egg after each orgasm to improve his virility. On a shopping expedition with Claire, Harry decides to buy the family an expensive SUV, against Michel's protest. The old school chum appears just to be helping his friend to take care of "life's problems," but how he takes care of them is the crux of "With a Friend Like Harry...."
In the best tradition of Hitch, Dominik Moll uses many of the old master's tricks to depict violence and convey real tension to his audience. Mayhem takes place all through the film, but it is done almost exclusively off screen, cleverly making the viewer build the horror of the scene in his/her mind. Additionally, the score, by David Sinclair Whittaker, has the same tense quality that the great Bernard Herrmann gave to many of Hitchcock's films ? who can ever forget the screeching violins in "Psycho?"
The cast, with one exception, maintains a low-key presence throughout the film. Sergi Lopez, as the enigmatic and dangerous Harry, gives a psycho edge to his performance that conveys volumes with a wicked gleam of the eye or an overconfident smirk on his lips. Right from the start, his outward affability carries an edge to it as Harry goes about his business of insinuating himself into Michel's life. Harry carries a lot of baggage from his past, including a long-standing but hidden obsession for Michel. No explanation is offered for Harry's bizarre, deadly behavior, keeping us in the dark about his motives. This is a problem as the enigma about Harry is carried too long and answers to our questions are left dangling in the end.
The production, oftentimes shot with a dark, sinister quality by Matthieu Poirot-Delpech, maintains the edgy nature that Moll needs to convey to keep the chills in his thriller. Actor Lopez isn't going to replace Anthony Perkins's Norman Bates as the quintessential movie monster, but with a friend like Harry....
I give it a B.
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