(2000; French) A harried 34-year-old husband and father, Michel Pepe (Laurent Lucas), who teaches French to Japanese students in Paris, drives with his wife Claire (Mathilde Seigner) and three undisciplined, whinny young daughters, uncomfortable in the hot automobile, to their cottage for a summer vacation. Along the way at a rest stop, in the men's lavatory Harry Ballestero (Sergi Lopez) recognizes Michel as a classmate from Berthollet, their school, 20 years ago. While Harry seems to have a wealth of recall of their school days together (he even had dental work from Michel's father), Michel can't bring Harry to mind.

Outside Harry introduces his fiancée Prune (Sophie Guillemin) - they're on their way to Switzerland - to Claire and Michel, proposes taking them out for dinner, offers to transport the children in his air-conditioned Mercedes, and finally follows the Pepes to their cottage.

In this psychological thriller (Hitchcock comes to mind, but a more recent, relevant comparison would be No Country for Old Men) from director/co-writer Dominik Moll, Harry is an evil emanation of repressed, pure self-regard from the dark recesses of Michel's psyche (his id in Freudian terms) - his sudden appearance (Is it reasonable for someone to immediately recognize out of context another two decades after last seeing the person at age 14?), fawning attention, and intimate knowledge of Michel's life suggests something more sinister than a former, little-remembered acquaintance; anyone who refuses to take Harry seriously or sees humor in his project is doomed.

At the old cottage, which Michel with his retired-dentist father's help purchased five years before, still in need of much work (including an abandoned well 12 to 15 feet deep that Claire wants filled in), the couple discover that the bathroom has been redesigned (with gaudy bright fuchsia tiles) - Michel's father sent his plumber - without their knowledge or approval.

During the meal Harry recounts names of people they both knew and adventures (including sexual escapades) from school days along with updates; he then recites from memory for Claire a poem, "The Dagger in the Skin of Night," Michel had published in the school's literary magazine, and refers to Michel's story, "The Flying Monkeys." Claire finds it funny, but Harry asks Michel: "Why did you stop writing?"

Michel and Claire are neither happy nor unhappy, she says, just exhausted with responsibilities; even at the cottage they can't relax because of the never-ending fixing up. "I think every problem needs a solution," says Harry, who first offers financial assistance (later making the proposal, "I could pay you to write"), then buys them a new 4x4 family car when their old auto needs a new starter. Claire says it's "out of proportion" to the problem; Michel regards it as vulgar, not unlike the bathroom, a color both share.

Overwhelmed by the generosity of the gift, even though Harry has explained his inherited wealth and desire to be of help in any way he can, Michel has become suspicious of Harry's motives, unwilling to be dependent on others. Harry comments on Michel's efforts at humoring everyone, trying to satisfy the emotional demands of his wife, his kids, and his parents, all of which are sapping his energies, keeping him from resuming his writing.

Michel's parents call expressing a desire to see their grandchildren, but the retired dentist has been warned by his physician not to overexert himself, including lengthy drives, so Michel drives the new car to pick them up, bringing them to the cottage. The relationship between the older couple has visibly deteriorated, and Michel returns them to their home the same day; Michel's father's behavior has upset Harry, who steals a van from the hotel where he and Prune (who wears a fuchsia-colored blouse) have taken a room, and drives that night to the older couple's home: "If you want to help him, come with me."

Following their death, assumed to have been a suicide, Michel's younger brother Eric shows up for the funeral, but he makes the mistake of ridiculing Michel's poem while a passenger in the car with Harry. When Claire brings her daughters to the hotel to visit with Prune (who's asleep), for whom they've developed an affection, she tells Harry (who attempts to explain his interest in Michel as "because I believe in him"): "I think you're a bad influence on him," after having found Michel sitting in the bathroom distraught but attempting to continue writing the story of the flying gibbons, requesting that Harry stay away from Michel. But with friends like Harry, who needs enemies?

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Copyright © 2008 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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