Full Review

The title pretty much says it all. "My Best Friend" ("Mon Meilleur Ami") (IFC) is a story about the nature of friendship. It is first and foremost a comedy, but what makes it special is the bittersweet quality beneath the laughs.

Francois (Daniel Auteuil) is a ruthless, self-centered antiques dealer who must prove to his skeptical business partner, Catherine (Julie Gayet), that he has a best friend. Over dinner, she has bet him that there is no one he can truly claim as a friend.

As we have just seen Francois feigning grief at the funeral of a competitor, with no compunction about making a callous pitch for a piece of furniture he covets, Catherine's assumption seems right on target.

We also learn that Francois is divorced, and has a strained relationship with his teenage daughter, Louise (Julie Durand).

To win the bet, he frantically ricochets from one acquaintance to another, to find out if they consider him their best friend, but all rebuff him. He even reads "How to Win Friends and Influence People" to no apparent effect.

Meanwhile, he has come to know a sweet-natured but talkative cab driver, Bruno (Dany Boon), a sensitive soul with a rare talent for trivia who lives with his parents. Francois asks Bruno for pointers on making friends, and as time passes a mutual regard develops between them, but hard-headed Francois is slow to realize that here indeed may be the person he can pass off to Catherine and the others as his true friend.

The tale takes a darker turn when he plays a cold-hearted trick on Bruno just to prove that the trusting cabbie will do anything for the sake of friendship. Not only does the prank land with a thud, but there are devastating emotional results.

Director and co-writer Patrice Leconte's perceptive film (co-written with Jerome Tonnerre) begins as a lightweight comedy, but builds in profundity, and its nail-biting climax takes place on, of all things, the TV show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" (Yes, the French version is just like ours!)

The performances of the two men are very fine. Though Auteuil's work is superb as always, Boon (who played with Auteuil in the recent comedy "The Valet") is the heart-wrenching revelation here.

The film, in French with subtitles, contains a few rough and crude expletives, a lesbian character and an unethical act. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.