Literary Drama

Poison Friends (2006)
[French with English Subtitles]

Synopsis: “A sharp examination of university life, Poison Friends is a psychological drama with a wry edge.”

Why I Rented this: Another of his films showed up on my Cannes films list. Writer for “A Christmas Tale” (2008) and I like to watch directors previous works before jumping into anything recent. Ha! And yes… the synopsis got me curious.

Thoughts: This film doesn't necessarily cover any new territory as the roles and relationships of the academic, the intellectual and the artists have always been questioned. Perhaps summarized in literary terms as those that teach (the purist), those that understand (the critic) and those that do (the artists/writer). Yet, it is impressive that this film has made an effort to explore these relationships in a narrative. In the end, I think that it is easy to come away from the film with the sense that there were clear villains and heroes. The more difficult path to take is that one mans fanatical genius inspired and destroyed. That the pure ability to think effects the physical world and that perhaps our successful students are the ones that have failed… acting out lives chosen for them and dancing in step with what ‘you should do’. The actor and writer are performing their crafts before an audience but who is the director?

Conclusion: If you like French films and/or films dealing with more then the superficial world of academic life then I would recommend this film. Nice to see a film that doesn’t focus on some kind of frat house socialization.

7/10