Top 6 Films Among Friends
Get together with some friends, make popcorn and enjoy a French movie night with these films about the bonds of friendship.
COMEDY CROWD
Les Bronzés (French Fried Vacation) / Les Bronzés Font du Ski / Les Bronzés 3: Amis pour la Vie (Friends Forever) Patrice Leconte, 1978 / 1979 / 2006
“Sea, sex and sun,” sings Serge Gainsbourg on the soundtrack of the first film in the cult classic Bronzés trilogy. And indeed, when a group of tourists, one more absurd than the other, arrives in a Club Med-style resort in West Africa, they’re bent on making the most of their week off. Little do they know that by the end of their vacation, they will have become fast friends. In sequels we encounter them again the following year at a ski resort in the Alps, and then 17 years later, still “friends forever,” vacationing in an Italian hotel. They’ve changed, all right—but to our delight, only for the worse! Written and performed by Le Splendid, the most famous French comedy team of the 1980s (including Josiane Balasko, Christian Clavier, Michel Blanc, Gérard Jugnot, Thierry Lhermitte, Michel Blanc and Marie-Anne Chazel), and directed by Patrice Leconte, the Bronzés trilogy is pure entertainment.
LOOKING BACK
Mes Meilleurs Copains (My Best Pals) Jean-Marie Poiré, 1989
Five men in their early 40s (played by Jean-Pierre Bacri, Christian Clavier, Gérard Lanvin, Philippe Khorsand and Jean-Pierre Darroussin in his breakout role) have been friends since their wild teenage years in the late ’60s. They decide to spend a weekend together for a long-awaited reunion with a girl they used to know—and dream about—in their youth, who has since become a rock star in Canada. But things have changed, and so have they: Can they remain friends? Mes Meilleurs Copains is an endearing portrait of a group of men facing midlife crisis, each in his own way.
DOUBLE ENDING
La Belle Equipe (They Were Five) Julien Duvivier, 1936
Five unemployed workers (including Jean Gabin and Charles Vanel) win the lottery and decide to transform a dilapidated house by the river into a restaurant. After an enthusiastic beginning, their friendship and their dreams for the future begin to come undone as they confront challenges involving death, deportation and rivalry over a woman. Made in the days of the Popular Front government, the film conveys the era’s hope for a better life through brotherhood and solidarity. Director Duvivier shot both a happy and an unhappy ending. The happier ending, more consistent with the exhilarating ideals of the time, was chosen for theatrical distribution. Both endings are now available—choose the one that suits your mood.
QUARTET
Vincent, François, Paul…et les Autres (Vincent, François, Paul and the Others) Claude Sautet, 1974
Three close friends in their mid-40s, Vincent, François and Paul (Yves Montand, Michel Piccoli and Serge Reggiani in remarkable performances) are joined in their weekly meetings by a younger man, Jean (Gérard Depardieu in his first major film). They live dissimilar lives—Vincent a small business owner, François a doctor, Paul a writer and Jean a worker employed by Vincent—but the deep friendship they share helps them bear their individual hardships (divorce, writer’s block, bankruptcy and more). The film is a poignant character study that also explores one of Sautet’s favorite themes: the power and durability of friendship, as opposed to the fleeting nature of romance.
AND ALSO…
Croque la Vie Jean Charles Tacchella, 1981. Comedy/drama.
Travelling Avant Jean Charles Tacchella, 1987. Drama/romance.
La Vie des Morts Arnaud Desplechin , 1991. Drama.
Beau Fixe Christian Vincent, 1992. Drama.
A la Vie, à la Mort! (‘Til Death Do Us Part) Robert Guédiguian, 1995. Comedy/drama.
Le Péril Jeune (Good Old Daze) Cédric Klapisch, 1994. Comedy.
Comment Je Me Suis Disputé… (Ma Vie Sexuelle) (My Sex Life…or How I Got into an Argument) Arnaud Desplechin, 1996. Comedy/drama.
L’Auberge Espagnole (The Spanish Apartment) / Les Poupées Russes (The Russian Dolls) Cédric Klapisch, 2002 / 2005. Comedies
Ils se Marièrent et Eurent Beaucoup d’Enfants (Happily Ever After) Yvan Attal, 2004. Comedy/drama.
Les Amitiés Maléfiques (Poison Friends) Emmanuel Bourdieu, 2006. Drama.
Find French films in our France Today Bookstore.
Originally published in the February 2009 issue of France Today
Share to: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email