The Closet

The Closet
by Francis Veber

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• Francois Pignon is a lonely, dull accountant at a condom factory. At work, he's the butt of jokes, usually instigated by his co-worker Felix (Depardieu). And there's whispers at work that he's to be fired! At home, he sits alone, pining for his ex-wife and his son finds him too boring to be around. All this changes one day when a rumor spreads that he's gay, and much to his surpris

DVD Reviews of The Closet

DVD Review: French Farce is funny but too tasteful.
Summary: 3 Stars

The Closet is one of the most tasteful politically incorrect French farces I've seen. Everything is being delivered with such a gentle touch, it's hard to believe this is the same director who delivered the funny but mean spirited Dinner Game. The film is a little stronger than a television sit-com, but not much. It's an easy film to like--too easy.

The Closet stars four of Frances most popular home grown box-office stars and was a huge hit there in late 2000. It arrived in U.S. theaters in 2001.

I laughed quite a bit during the Closet, but as I was watching I also knew the film could have been much better. There were a lot of missed opportunities and with the cast involved it would have taken a real effort to completely fail to entertain. I appreciated the decision not to go completely sappy with some of the twists the story took and I think the film is a far better than something like In and Out to whom it's distantly related.

Mild mannered, milquetoast, almost invisible Francois Pignon (Daniel Auteuil) works as an accountant in a condom factory. He's such a non-entity when there's no room for him in the company picture he sits it out. He's such a nice dull guy, even the most gregarious guy at the company has stopped playing practical jokes on him.

Then Francois overhears the gregarious guy Felix Santini (Gerard Depardieu) and his friend Guillaume (Thierry Lhermitte) laughing about the fact that Fancois was about to be fired. Will anyone even notice?

It's the last straw for Francois whose wife left him almost a year ago (though he still loves her) Francois' teenage son avoids him whenever possible, he has no hobbies, or friends and without a job, he'll be unable to give his wife alimony. He contemplates committing suicide.

His new neighbor, Belone (Michel Aumont) however be-friends him. He is retired corporate psychologist and he has a plan to help keep his job. Using some doctored photos, Belone, creates a rumor at the factory that Francois is gay. Fearing there could be bad publicity from the gay community which would hurt condom sales, the company can't fire Francois now. Francois boss, the beautiful Mlle. Bertrand (Michele Laroque) is not only suspicious that something doesn't add up, but she's also suddenly intrigued by Francois.

Francois long string of bad luck and dullness has come to an end.

Everyone's attitude toward the former invisible employee suddenly changes. Even gregarious homophobe Felix is being nice to him for some reason. Of course complications crop up, but the film is utterly predictable with its twists.

The film is tame in tone and the humor pretty gentle. The direction from a visual standpoint is totally lackluster - though comic timing is sharp. It's really the charisma and skill of the actors (Daniel Auteuil here acts like a French speaking Tony Randall,) that makes this film as successful and funny as it is. They make it worth watching.

DVD STUFF

The Closet is presented in anamorphic widescreen with 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The colors are sharp and very little grain, dirt or print damage is visible. The black levels seems to be very strong.

The soundtrack is clean and free from any distortion or noise. There's not a lot of sound effects or even appropriate occasions which would use the full spectrum of a home surround system, but the music and ambient noises are well distributed to create a natural sounding environment. We've all seen foreign films where everyone talks in strange hollow disembodied and over-modulated voices. That is not the case here. The film is in French and the English subtitles are very easy to read.

DVD EXTRAS:

Little is here but three theatrical trailers.

BOTTOM LINE:

The Closet is an amusing clever French comedy that delivers enjoyable performances. It should have been better than it is, but if you are looking for something a little different and in the mood to laugh it's certainly worth a look. If you're put off by subtitles (which are very easy to read on this DVD) then that's you're loss.

3 1/2 stars. It's funny but could have and should have been better.

Christopher Jarmick, is the author of The Glass Cocoon with Serena F. Holder a critically acclaimed, steamy suspense thriller.

Description of The Closet

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