My Best Friend (2006 film)

My Best Friend
Theatrical release poster
Directed byPatrice Leconte
Written byOlivier Dazat
Patrice Leconte
Jerome Tonnerre
Produced byOlivier Delbosc
Marc Missonnier
StarringDaniel Auteuil
Dany Boon
CinematographyJean-Marie Dreujou
Music byXavier Dermeliac
Distributed byWild Bunch
Release date
  • 12 September 2006 (2006-09-12)
Running time
94 minutes
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench
Budget$12.8 million[1]
Box office$14.7 million [2]

My Best Friend (Mon meilleur ami) is a French film starring Daniel Auteuil, Dany Boon, and Julie Gayet.

Plot

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François (Auteuil) is a middle-aged, Parisian art dealer who thinks he has everything. After telling a story at dinner about a funeral he attended where only a handful of people turned up, his colleagues suggest that no-one would go to his funeral. He may be materially rich, but he has no friends. Everyone at the dinner table starts to antagonise him about having no friends but François says that he does have friends (in reality, he only has clients). His business partner Catherine (Gayet) challenges him to a bet: François must introduce his best friend within ten days, or lose a valuable object, his antique Greek vase (worth €200,000).

The challenge is accepted. François has ten days to find a friend. As François travels through Paris in a taxi, revisiting old acquaintances who all reject him, he meets a trivia-loving taxi driver, Bruno (Boon). As the two spend an increasing amount of time together, they gradually start to form a friendship. François meets Bruno's parents and buys a worthless table from them for 10,000 euros to be a better friend. However, François's desire to win the bet threatens to destroy the best friendship he has ever had. He tricks Bruno into attempting to steal his vase so François can get his insurance money, but it was all a plot to show how much of a friend Bruno was. Bruno becomes furious and smashes the vase, ending his friendship. To make it up, François gets Bruno on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire by giving away his vase. This is a success, and brings the two together, as friends.

Cast

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American remake

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In 2008, producer Brian Grazer hired Wes Anderson to write the script for an English-language remake of My Best Friend;[3] Anderson completed a draft for the script, with the film tentatively called The Rosenthaler Suite, in 2009.[4]

Notes

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  1. ^ Film File Europe | Production profile Archived 2007-10-09 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "My Best Friend".
  3. ^ Wes Anderson finds 'My Best Friend'
  4. ^ Vanairsdale, S.T. (January 18, 2010). "Wes Anderson on Awards Season, Animation and Why He Hasn't Seen Avatar". Movieline.
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