Week 2: My Dinner with Andre
----------------------------------------------------Andre and Wallace at dinner
“A baby holds your hands,
and then suddenly, there's this huge
man lifting you off the ground,
and then he's gone. Where's that son?”
-Andre Gregory
The concept is simple. Two men, who have not seen each other in years, meet and have dinner. They sit and talk about their lives. This is the kind of interaction that happens in pretty much every restaurant in the country at least once a week. I highly doubt these conversations are as good as the one in My Dinner with Andre.
What a wonderful film this is! The director, Louis Malle, and screenwriters/actors Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory have created a110 minute masterpiece. Rarely has an American film been as insightful about life, the human condition, religion, or communication. This film about two men sitting in a restaurant has given me more to think about than extremely few others I have ever seen.
The story begins with Wallace, a down and out playwright living in New York and struggling to pay the bills. As he rides the subway, we overhear his narration. He spent his entire youth thinking of his art, and his entire adult life thinking of money. While riding the subway he looks his immediate surroundings, including the graffiti ridden subway cab, and is disgusted. He seems generally unhappy with his life. The last thing he wants to do is sit down with Andre, a former theater professor that has dropped off of the radar for the last five years. He decides that he will keep the conversation as one sided as possible, keep his answers and questions broad, and get out of the situation as soon as possible.
Andre is a character. He has spent the last five years traveling around the world in an attempt to find himself. For the first thirty minutes of the film, most viewers surely will not know what to think of him. He seems completely insane. We hear him talk of going to Tibet and Egypt. Andre tells Wallace about his performance art pieces, including one in which he is buried alive. These stories are told with total sincerity, yet they leave Wallace incredulous. All Wallace can do is probe for more information, more exploits- to be able to sit and continue to silently judge his former friend without having to contribute to the conversation. Finally, Andre points out—“Wallace, you don’t really care about all of this.”
Wallace is us. He does not travel, but stays at home. He struggles to make ends meet and worries about paying his bills. His art is his living, and while he is passionate about it- he fears he may be a hack. There is a section of the film in which he discusses his electric blanket, and how he would never live without its comfort now that he has come to possess it. The electric blanket can be removed, and any comfort can be put in its place. America had dreams of greatness, but fulfilled those dreams by sitting on the couch at home, watching television.
The beauty of the film lies in the issues these men discuss. Both are right, and wrong, at the same time. They talk about the big issues, such as the lack of communication in the world, philosophy, and the meaning of life. After about the 40 minute mark, both men put down their individual armors and start communicating on a level that is beyond most forms of socialization. In listening (not hearing) what each other has to say, they become involved personally and emotionally. This film shows the most truthful depiction of human communication I have seen in medium.
This film could not be made today. Earlier in this review I said the concept was simple. It is also completely unheard of in the Hollywood system; or, any other filmmaking system for that matter. Here is a film that has no major stars, action, special effects, dramatic arc, intrigue, or photographic complexity. The cinematography style consists of two cameras, one for close ups, one for wide angles. The actors themselves are not Hollywood movie stars, but two middle aged, balding, unattractive geeks. This film barely got made in 1981, and was only distributed to 900 theaters after significant critical acclaim after it opened to rave reviews at the Telluride film festival. Since then it has become an underground cult classic.
It is important to note that My Dinner with Andre is an actual work of fiction, not a documentary. Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory wrote the screenplay, yet they are not playing themselves. The conversation in the film is scripted and was rehearsed for over three weeks before filming. The restaurant is a set, not a real place. Extras were hired for the background, and the waiter in the film is an actor. In this sense, the film is quite effective. Most that see it feel that this is a documentary or filmed interview. Shawn and Gregory have went on the record saying that if they could remake the film, they would switch roles- to prove they are not playing themselves.
Some of the things that are said in this conversation are incredibly profound. ``I could always live in my art, but not in my life,” Andre says. This is certainly true of many artists, or people in general. I first saw this film around eleven years ago. I was in a different place then. Now when I watch the film it speaks differently to me. I am sure it will speak differently a decade from now. It is simple and deep at the same time.
The storytelling here is spellbinding. When Andre is discussing his exploits the viewer begins to mentally live the exploits in their own mind. In many ways, the film could work as a piece of fiction being read to the viewer on film. When the audience allows the story to take hold there are pieces of the film that can be quite exciting, such as the “buried alive” sequences, or the story involving Andre hallucinating a giant purple creature inside of a church. In a modern film, these sequences would probably be special effects driven fantasy scenes, played out on screen for all to see. Such an act of contrivance would ruin the experience with the viewer.
The ending of the film is sort of beautiful. After his dinner with Andre, Wallace leaves the restaurant. Because Andre paid for the meal, Wallace has the money to take a cab home. While riding in the cab, he thinks about his past, and his love for the city. The city looks different to him now, special and nostalgic. While looking at a building he reflects on moments of his childhood once forgotten. He relishes his life and his surroundings.
There has not been a single point in this review where I have really talked about the big issues Wallace and Andre talk about. I do this because the issues are right there, on the screen. The topic of the conversation is not the point. The point is the discourse they are having; the ebb and flow of the conversation. If married couples had conversations like this once a year, most would probably never divorce. Watch the damn movie. You will see what I am talking about.
Review and Analysis by Shaun Henisey
Cast and Credits:
Andre: Andre Gregory
Wallace: Wallace Shawn
The Criterion Collection presents a film by Louis Malle, written by Andre Gregory and Wallace Shawn.
Runtime: 110 minutes. Rated PG (for some brief language)
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This entire film is available for streaming directly from A Movie A Week.