Title: The Closet (Le Placard)
Release Date: 2001-05-04
Genres: Drama, Art House & International, Comedy
High essence:
"A ridiculous subplot is added on, where super-macho rugby player and personnel director, Félix Santini, who is a gay-basher and hated Pignon even when he thought he was straight, is told by the troublemaking practical joker PR (Thierry Lhermitte), a trusted confidant of his, that his job is now in jeopardy because of his homophobic attitude and that he better kiss up to Pignon.""Almost thirty years ago he penned The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe and in the late 1970s offered up the quintessential French social farce La Cage aux Folles ."
"Daniel Auteuil's central performance is the glue holding the whole enterprise together."
"Gerard Depardieu also excels as Felix Santini, the macho homophobe who tries to befriend Pignon to lose his reputation as a thuggish gay-basher."
"In this priceless scene, which the film wisely doesn't belabor, Fran ois, wearing a frozen little smile and waving demurely to the crowd, rides through the center of town on a float surrounded by inflated condoms, a blown-up condom perched on his head like an obscene Mickey Mouse cap."
"From the titillating gossip exchanged by the two women who work with him in the accounting office to the quandaries of F lix (G rard Depardieu in a comic tour de force), a homophobic jock now fearing for his job, to the renewed attentions of his estranged wife and son, Pignon's whole world is upended for the better through the agency of an anonymously sent doctored photo."
Medium essence:
Dennis Schwartz:- But his new next-door neighbor, Jean-Pierre Belone (Michel Aumont), reads his mind and talks him out of it.
- A ridiculous subplot is added on, where super-macho rugby player and personnel director, Félix Santini, who is a gay-basher and hated Pignon even when he thought he was straight, is told by the troublemaking practical joker PR (Thierry Lhermitte), a trusted confidant of his, that his job is now in jeopardy because of his homophobic attitude and that he better kiss up to Pignon.
- One shows the meek accountant advertising his company's product while seated on a float during the Gay Pride parade, as he's dressed with a pink condom bonnet atop his head.
Elias Savada:
- Closet - Nitrate Online Review The Closet review by Elias Savada , 27 July 2001 Gay Paree just bubbled up a few degrees with the delightfully witty homo-faux-bic comedy The Closet (La Placard) from Francis Veber, one of France's most successful auteurs and masters of misperception for the last several decades.
- Almost thirty years ago he penned The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe and in the late 1970s offered up the quintessential French social farce La Cage aux Folles .
- Popping up in an occasional English-language title ( Green Card being the first that comes to mind), Depardieu's dunderheaded Felix is a remarkable smug character with stuffed-shirt mentality fits well in his trenchcoat wardrobe.
:
- Closet Fun, superbly-played comedy about an employee who follows his neighbours advice to spread a rumour about his sexuality in the workplace to startling effect.
- F lix the homophobe's efforts at political correctness are painful to watch - Depardieu squirms while trying to woo the now flouted employee to hilarious effect.
- Daniel Auteuil's central performance is the glue holding the whole enterprise together.
Thomas Caldwell:
- The Closet ( Le Placard ) sees a comic dodgy premise - about a suicidal divorcee pretending to be gay in order to exploit a company's anti-discrimination paranoia - handled magnificently.
- Auteuil displays a sad comic charm that is Chaplinesque in his ability to make us laugh and sympathise simultaneously.
- Gerard Depardieu also excels as Felix Santini, the macho homophobe who tries to befriend Pignon to lose his reputation as a thuggish gay-basher.
Stephen Holden:
- In this priceless scene, which the film wisely doesn't belabor, Fran ois, wearing a frozen little smile and waving demurely to the crowd, rides through the center of town on a float surrounded by inflated condoms, a blown-up condom perched on his head like an obscene Mickey Mouse cap.
- THE CLOSET Written (in French, with English subtitles) and directed by Francis Veber; director of photography, Luciano Tovoli; edited by Georges Klotz; music by Vladimir Cosma; production designer, Hugues Tissander; produced by Alain Poir ; released by Miramax Films.
- A classic buttoned-down mid-level manager at work, Fran ois embodies dull, straight-arrow conformity.
:
- He makes brisk little comedies, under 90 minutes, with sharp dialogue, clever slapstick, pointed social commentary, and exquisite performances and on tight budgets.
- From the titillating gossip exchanged by the two women who work with him in the accounting office to the quandaries of F lix (G rard Depardieu in a comic tour de force), a homophobic jock now fearing for his job, to the renewed attentions of his estranged wife and son, Pignon's whole world is upended for the better through the agency of an anonymously sent doctored photo.
- Thus Veber arranges for F lix, the film's least sympathetic character, to be transformed through a cruel ploy conceived by fellow worker Guillaume (Thierry Lhermitte, the arch snob from The Dinner Game), and through the intercession of a pink sweater, into the film's most touching object of pathos, into a virtual Pignon himself.
Low essence:
Dennis Schwartz:- But his new next-door neighbor, Jean-Pierre Belone (Michel Aumont), reads his mind and talks him out of it.
- A ridiculous subplot is added on, where super-macho rugby player and personnel director, Félix Santini, who is a gay-basher and hated Pignon even when he thought he was straight, is told by the troublemaking practical joker PR (Thierry Lhermitte), a trusted confidant of his, that his job is now in jeopardy because of his homophobic attitude and that he better kiss up to Pignon.
- Bertrand (Michele Laroque).
- One shows the meek accountant advertising his company's product while seated on a float during the Gay Pride parade, as he's dressed with a pink condom bonnet atop his head.
- Francis Veber's ( The Dinner Game ) social comedy aims to be a crowd pleaser and makes little asides about PC agendas that are supposed to be satires on hypocrisy in the office place, but the jokes provide no belly laughs and are more annoying and stale than on the mark.
- François Pignon (Daniel Auteuil) is a dullard.
- When unnoticed in the men's room learns from overhearing a conversation between the crudetcute;lixantini (Gérard Depardieu) and the cameraman who just took the company photo, that he's about to be fired.
Elias Savada:
- Closet - Nitrate Online Review The Closet review by Elias Savada , 27 July 2001 Gay Paree just bubbled up a few degrees with the delightfully witty homo-faux-bic comedy The Closet (La Placard) from Francis Veber, one of France's most successful auteurs and masters of misperception for the last several decades.
- Long-time ccountant Frois Pignon'(Daniel Auil) dul old-fashoned, boring speck of colorless presence contrasts sharply with the bright blue, ultra-modernist (matching the obvious iMac computers) style of the condom factory where he is entrenched.
- Being elbowed out of the company's annual photo segues into his being pushed out of his office under a generalized staff reduction, two years after this nebbish was cast off from his ice queen wife Christine (Alexandra Vanderhoot), for whom he still pines, and their teenage son Franck (Stanislas Crevill n), both of whom make concerted efforts not to answer his dreary telephone calls or dine on his homemade tomato and basil pasta.
- Almost thirty years ago he penned The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe and in the late 1970s offered up the quintessential French social farce La Cage aux Folles .
- Their friendship quickly cemented over an adorable kitten, they hatch an absurd plan to send to Francois' employers anonymous photographs of him doctored to reveal a nonexistent homosexual slant.
- Popping up in an occasional English-language title ( Green Card being the first that comes to mind), Depardieu's dunderheaded Felix is a remarkable smug character with stuffed-shirt mentality fits well in his trenchcoat wardrobe.
- Veber's films often center on all variety of the human sad-sack tale -- in the closet and out -- with American audiences often getting a double dose of his ironic underpinnings when remade in Americanized (i.
:
- Closet Fun, superbly-played comedy about an employee who follows his neighbours advice to spread a rumour about his sexuality in the workplace to startling effect.
- His previous enemy, personnel manager Guillaume - rather than boot him out the door - is told to befriend him and make him feel cherished.
- F lix the homophobe's efforts at political correctness are painful to watch - Depardieu squirms while trying to woo the now flouted employee to hilarious effect.
- Aumont, as the neighbour, is perhaps the most tragic character in the film.
- This is much more a middle-of-the-road crowdpleaser, that was a huge hit in France, and no doubt it is destined to follow Veber's previous works in being Hollywoodised in the near future.
- Daniel Auteuil's central performance is the glue holding the whole enterprise together.
- Deliciously understated, his behaviour, once he is outed, doesn't change one iota, but the perceptions of those around him radically alter.
Thomas Caldwell:
- The Closet ( Le Placard ) sees a comic dodgy premise - about a suicidal divorcee pretending to be gay in order to exploit a company's anti-discrimination paranoia - handled magnificently.
- Debate, discussion and differences of opinion are welcome, however, anything abusive, offensive, incoherent, off-topic or significantly removed from the general tone of this blog will not be approved.
- Francis Veber also wrote and directed The Dinner Game ; although Veber's direction in this new film is fairly bland, his script makes it far superior to its overrated predecessor.
- Auteuil displays a sad comic charm that is Chaplinesque in his ability to make us laugh and sympathise simultaneously.
- Gerard Depardieu also excels as Felix Santini, the macho homophobe who tries to befriend Pignon to lose his reputation as a thuggish gay-basher.
Stephen Holden:
- Suddenly a man who once appeared to be a gray-faced cipher has become a tantalizing enigma.
- For beneath the film's satire beats a heart of mush.
- In this priceless scene, which the film wisely doesn't belabor, Fran ois, wearing a frozen little smile and waving demurely to the crowd, rides through the center of town on a float surrounded by inflated condoms, a blown-up condom perched on his head like an obscene Mickey Mouse cap.
- THE CLOSET Written (in French, with English subtitles) and directed by Francis Veber; director of photography, Luciano Tovoli; edited by Georges Klotz; music by Vladimir Cosma; production designer, Hugues Tissander; produced by Alain Poir ; released by Miramax Films.
- A classic buttoned-down mid-level manager at work, Fran ois embodies dull, straight-arrow conformity.
:
- He makes brisk little comedies, under 90 minutes, with sharp dialogue, clever slapstick, pointed social commentary, and exquisite performances and on tight budgets.
- From the titillating gossip exchanged by the two women who work with him in the accounting office to the quandaries of F lix (G rard Depardieu in a comic tour de force), a homophobic jock now fearing for his job, to the renewed attentions of his estranged wife and son, Pignon's whole world is upended for the better through the agency of an anonymously sent doctored photo.
- And in the comic aftermath of this lucid chaos (Veber's direction is so crisp you hardly notice the eloquence of the visuals, the employment of space and setting with the ingenuity of Jacques Tati), the film quietly makes its shrewd points about issues ranging from sexual identity to sexual harassment.
- Thus Veber arranges for F lix, the film's least sympathetic character, to be transformed through a cruel ploy conceived by fellow worker Guillaume (Thierry Lhermitte, the arch snob from The Dinner Game), and through the intercession of a pink sweater, into the film's most touching object of pathos, into a virtual Pignon himself.
Source:
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E07E5DB1739F93AA15755C0A9679C8B63&partner=Rotten Tomatoes
http://www.nitrateonline.com/2001/rcloset.html
http://blog.cinemaautopsy.com/2002/01/08/film-review-the-closet-2001/
http://www.sover.net/~ozus/closet.htm