With a Friend Like Harry... (2000)

Let's be realistic.

just watch it!

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Another deservedly acclaimed French thriller but, as opposed to the kinetic and twist-laden TELL NO ONE (2006), this is a slow-burn and (relatively) simply-plotted film with, if anything, even more emphasis on characterization. Again, this elicits memories of earlier suspensers – notably Alfred Hitchcock's STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951) and the Stephen King adaptation MISERY (1990), whose narratives are neatly amalgamated here – as we get the title character, a rich wastrel and casual acquaintance of the hero who gradually reveals psychotic tendencies, misguidedly lending a helping hand to sort out the latter's domestic problems while, at the same time, being somewhat obsessed by the young man and resenting in particular his (unconscious) decision to suppress the talent he once possessed as an author! Like the Guillaume Canet film I mentioned earlier, much of the power of the piece emanates from careful casting and, in fact, all four leads (the others being the two protagonists' respective partners, with the hero's wife being played by Mathilde Seigner, sister of Roman Polanski's wife Emmanuelle) deliver good performances. As I said, the film essentially maintains a low-key throughout, even in its moments of violence (with a couple actually occurring off-screen!) so that we get no CAPE FEAR-type melodramatics. The last act is quite interesting as, first, I half-expected the film to turn into a variation on PERFORMANCE (1970) with the villain disappearing for a while and the hero not only picking up some of the former's idiosyncrasies but even takes an active interest in his girl!; then, it almost takes a leaf from Claude Chabrol's LA CEREMONIE (1995) when Harry tries to persuade his 'idol' to get rid of the latter's family for good. However, it finally settles on (effectively) reprising the ironic twist which concludes LA FEMME INFIDELE (1968), a much earlier Chabrol effort (an obvious influence here, that film-maker being officially recognized as "The French Hitchcock"). Though one can fault the movie its slight overlength (116 minutes), an even bigger regret is the fact that the script treats proceedings a little too earnestly rather than approach them as black comedy! On a personal note, the fact that the protagonist here is a 34-year old former writer (I will be that same age in August and have not 'created' anything for the last 8 years!) struck a little too close to home for comfort!

Evil dentists are everywhere: Think "The Little Shop of Horrors", "The Whole Nine Yards", "Punch-Drunk Love", "Marathon Man", and, of course, "Brazil". But Michel's dad (Dominiqze Rozan) adds a new touch. A long-retired doddering dentist, the old man insists on a check-up whenever his son (Laurent Lucas) is visiting. Like Michel hadn't got enough to worry about without opening wide for daddy's drill. He is all but broke, and his vacation home is going to pieces. As is his marriage to classy Claire (Mathilde Seigner, Emmanuelle Seigner's kid sister). This is when Harry (Sergi López) shows up, bimbo (Sophie Guillemin) in tow. A friend from school, Harry believes Michel is destined to be a writer and tries to help him get back in touch with his muse. Trouble is we never learn why. As a result, the movie is stuck in the middle between the commonplace and the absurd. Director Dominik Moll's most recent feature, "Lemming", takes things a lot further in the direction of the surreal, and to advantage too. "Harry" picks up speed in its final half-hour though. Think "Blood Simple" meets "The Cable Guy". My favorite character: the flying monkey in the nightmare scene.

"With A Friend Like Harry (Harry, un ami qui vous veut du bien)" is a masterful tribute to Hitchcockian principles -- find the scariness in the most mundane situations while letting the viewer know exactly what creepiness is going on. What could be more mundane than a long, hot vacation drive to a fixer-upper summer house, with dad, mom and three screaming kids in the back (I knew right away the baby had an ear infection by the way she was crying and pulling on her ear), and a commitment to meet up with the grandparents.Of course Mom and Dad are French so they still manage to be sexy-looking in this situation with tight T-shirts on, but heck when Hollywood re-makes this they will be too, and the undercurrent of sensuality helps drive the story.Three rowdy teenagers wandered into the theater and while I was sure they were in the wrong place, even they got involved, as we all groaned and shouted at the screen for the characters not to do what they did as our trust and suspicions reeled out.Nobody is simplistic, they all have their reasons, and nothing can be anticipated. Hollywood will simplify the characters, add visible sex and more violence and change the macabre ending, even though we don't have The Code anymore. (originally written 5/21/2001)

One of the first moments of this movie makes inevitably think of "Shining" (1980) by Stanley Kubrick and "Funny Games" (1997) by Michael Haneke: an aerial shot which follows a car on the highway. Inside it, a typical French family who goes on holiday in their country house hoping to find some peace. It's particularly true for the parents, Michel and his wife who seem to be all keyed up because of their restless children. On a rest area, Michel meets an old school friend: Harry who proposes Michel to come and spend a couple of days to his country house. The latter accepts. From the beginning, Harry appears as a charismatic and mysterious character. Who is he? Where does he come from? What does he want? We learn very few things about him or just vague facts. The director Dominik Voll preferred to leave high and dry Harry's origins and it's better this way because the spectator can imagine whatever he wants about him. Be that as it may, we can bring a beginning of answer to the third quoted question: Harry wishes Michel well and he's ready to do anything for this, even to kill...After a six-year absence (his last movie was "intimacy" in 1994), Dominik Voll made a successful comeback with "With a Friend like Harry" (2000). He seduced both the critics and the public and won 4 French Oscars in 2001 including Best Actor for Sergi Lopez. It's funny to note down that the basic idea for his second feature-length film came to him from a holiday memory when, just like Michel he met an old school friend which he hadn't seen for years. This trivial detail inspired him to focus his movie on the theme of the double. Besides, the first apparition of the two main protagonists happens in front of a mirror. Harry can be considered the incarnation of Michel's repressed drives and buried desires. In a way, he's what Michel would like to be or to do (consciously or not). I think there are numerous examples in Voll's opus and I will retain the three following points: Harry enjoys a perfect sexual life (eating a raw egg after an orgasm is good for health!) and perhaps Michel would like to know something similar to this. Then, Harry kills Michel's parents and every time the latter invites them for lunch or dinner, he has to fetch them: his father can't drive for medical reasons. Perhaps, Michel has hidden death wishes about his parents. At last, by congratulating Michel about the writings he made in high school, Harry probably wakes in Michel hidden desires of writer. Roughly, Harry wants to help his friend to advance in life, no matter what the price is."With a friend like Harry" is Voll's second film in six years but his making is absolutely awesome. If the beginning of the movie turns out to be a little trite:how many times in cinema have we seen the trick of the helpful character invading a so far peaceful universe? But fortunately, once this moment passed, the rest makes forget this weakness. The movie adopts a slow rhythm without hastes and opts for the unexpected to play with the spectator's nerves. Dominik Voll weaves a more and more heavy even stifling atmosphere marked out by Michel's psychological changing who seems to become a little unrecognizable to his wife. Besides, she tells to Harry: "you've got a bad influence on Michel". This heavy atmosphere is reinforced by a precise and rigorous making which favors close-up shots and the length of quite numerous sequences. Overrall the director achieved a tour de force by mixing several cinema genres in a coherent story. What is close to comedy in the beginning of the story ends up turning to drama and thriller and the abrupt changes of tone follow on from each other with a diabolical logic. Moreover, Voll knows how to use black humor and certain moments give sometimes to the work an eccentric side.Needless to say that the cast is largely equal to the story. Already remarked in the invigorating "Western" (1997) by Manuel Poirier (whose he is one of his favorite actors), Sergi Lopez finds the role of his life in Harry. It will certainly be hard for him to equal his performance in the future.Highly recommended, "With a Friend like Harry" is a work that can be understood on several levels. It's a fascinating work and however we come out of the projection with a little uneasiness because of Michel's disturbing face. Harry's influence has altered him and he looks threatening as if he was going to commit something bad. As for Harry, in the domain of the pain in the neck characters, he is, in the long run, not exactly like Seraphin Lampion in "the adventures of Tintin"!