Mes meilleurs copains (1989)
Directed by Jean-Marie Poiré

Film Review

Jean-Marie Poiré is best known as the director of such hit film comedies as Le Père Noël est une ordure (1982) and Les Visiteurs (1993), but some of his lesser known films are just as watchable, and perhaps more laudable.  Mes meilleurs copains is one of Poiré's more serious and best structured films, an engaging and entertaining portrayal of male menopausal angst as experienced by a group of men who make up an unlikely quintet of friends.

Whilst it may not have the obvious box office appeal of some of Poiré's other comedies, the film shows somewhat more intelligence and insight, in both the writing and direction, than in much of the director's other work. The characters are well-drawn and believable, each offering a credible and subtly different take on mid-life crisis.  The superlative cast adds greatly to the film's appeal, with particularly noteworthy contributions from Jean-Pierre Bacri, Philippe Khorsand and Jean-Pierre Darroussin.  The latter's portrayal of a hyper-cool, slightly stoned-out-of-his-skull guitarist bears a suspicious similarity with Dylan from The Magic Roundabout...

Film Synopsis

At his house in the country, Richard invites four old friends of his - Jean-Michel, Guido, Antoine and Dany - to share a weekend with him and reminisce on their wild youth in the 1960s.  Much has changed since their days of political idealism and unbridled hedonism.  Now in their forties, their old dreams forgotten, the men have become respectable and lead ordinary humdrum lives.  They hope to meet up with Bernadette Legranbois, the woman who made a huge impression on all of their lives before she went off to Canada to become a huge pop star.  She is now back in France, performing at the Olympia.  As the five friends become reacquainted after this passage of time they begin to realise that the past is not quite as they remembered it.  Gathering their memories, Richard and his friends soon see that there are matters still to be resolved before Bernadette puts in her grand appearance...