[Diner De Cons,Le Movie Torrent
Laurice Whack
Every Wednesday, French editor Pierre Brochant (Thierry Lhermitte) and some of his friends organize a very special dinner: a "dner de cons" (Literally: "Dinner of shmucks"), where whoever brings the dumbest guest wins.
Desperate to find a suitable candidate for the week, Brochant invites a friend's recommendation: Franois Pignon (Jacques Villeret), a taxman who build models out of matchsticks and seems like "a real winner". Unfortunately, Brochant hadn't exactly counted on the fact that on the evening of the dinner, he'd have thrown his back playing golf, his wife would have left him and he'd be stuck at home, alone with Pignon, who's a goofball extraordinaire...
A 1998 French comedy/farce directed and written by Francis Veber, Le dner de cons (The Dinner Game) was a financial and critical success in France and in the United Kingdom. Based on Veber's long-running play of the same name, the movie won Best Scenario, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor at the Csars Awards. The song "Le temps ne fait rien l'affaire" by Georges Brassens was used for the opening credits.
- Believing Their Own Lies: Pignon calls Leblanc as a Belgian film producer to get informations on Brochant's wife. He ends up hanging up without any information on the wife - but he sure is going to get the movie rights for cheap.
- Black Comedy: Only lightly.
- The Casanova: Pascal Meneaux has this reputation, so Pierre Brochant is very worried when he thinks that his wife is in his flat. This reputation is justified: he has sex with the wife of his tax inspector, Lucien Cheval.
- Country Matters: The literal translation of "diner de cons" is, well, let's say it's something slightly ruder than "schmuck". The French word con is now (almost) only used to mean an idiot/moron, but its mainly-forgotten actual meaning is much more offensive in English. (Of course, the actual meaning of "schmuck" is the male equivalent, so the translated title is perfectly appropriate).
- *Crack!* "Oh, My Back!": Brochant hurts his back playing golf, and spends most of the film nursing his back injury. Said injury is what prevents him from taking Pignon to the dinner in the first place.
- The Ditz: Pignon
- Dramatic Irony: Pignon takes a woman from Pierre Brochant's flat. Pignon thinks that she is Marlne Sasseur, but the audience knows that she is actually Brochant's wife. Pignon and Brochant will realize this mistake only when the real Marlne Sasseur shows up.
- Driven to Suicide: Marlne threatens to commit suicide if Pignon hangs up the phone.
- Dumb Is Good: Pignon is a well-intentioned idiot with a sometimes heartwarming compassion for people he's barely met, Brochant is a smug intellectual snob who mistreats his closest friends.
- False Reassurance: When Brochant tells a friend on the phone that Pignon "looks like a real winner" ("Il a une belle tte de vainqueur"). Pignon sees it as proof that he's going to get a book deal. Brochant knows his friends thinks about the dinner.
- The Film of the Play: A faithful adaptation of the 1993 play of the same name. Jacques Villeret takes up again his stage role.
- Here We Go Again!: After the moral of the story and Pignon managing to fix everything in the span of several minutes, he manages to piss off Brochant's wife again by accidentally implying Brochant was feeding him lines.
- Intimidating Revenue Service: The reason why the music for Cheval's arrival is the theme from Jaws
- Jerkass: Pierre Brochant is an elitist snob who takes part in dinners that mock people and cheats on his wife.
- The Klutz: Franois Pignon is very clumsy.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Brochant is a jerkass. He stole his friend's wife. He cheated on her. He rejects his mistress. Oh, and his hobby is to make fun of people who are idiots in his opinion. In the end, he has thrown his back, his wife left him, his mistress does not want to meet him again, and his incomes will be controlled by the Ministry of Finance. Subverted, because Pignon decides to help him even if he knows why Brochant invited him and he manages to reconcile Brochant and his wife. Double subverted, because finally Pignon ruins everything.
- Lethal Chef: Brochant, when he tries to turn his expensive wine into lower quality claret. Amusingly, he actually makes it better, before making it worse
- Love Triangle: Brochant stole Leblanc's wife. Pignon's wife was stolen by one of his colleagues.
- Mistaken Identity: Pignon mistakes Brochant's wife for Marlne Sasseur.
- The Mistress: Marlne Sasseur has been Pierre Brochant's mistress for 2 years.
- Most Writers Are Writers: Christine Brochant, Juste Leblanc, and Marlne Sasseur are all writers. Pierre Brochant is a publisher.
- Nice Guy: Pignon, although in his case it's because Dumb Is Good.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Pignon's Belgian accent, when Juste asks him a question he doesn't expect.
- Prank Date: Dr Sorbier explains that, when he was a student, he participated in "Dogfight" prank dates. Each participant had to bring the ugliest date. He notes the similarity with the dinner game, which is a non-romantic version of the prank date.
- Punny Name:
- Juste Leblanc.
- Also, Marlne Sasseur, which sounds like "Marlne sa soeur" (in French, "Marlene his sister").
- Red-and-White Comedy Poster: See the poster here above.
- The Remake: Dinner for Schmucks
- Rule of Symbolism: The opening scene shows someone throwing a boomerang. The boomerang comes back and hits the thrower in the face. This is a symbol of the fate of Brochant, who intends to make fun of Pignon, but will suffer from the effects of his own joke.
- Slobs Versus Snobs: Brochant and his friends are much wealthier than the people they make fun of. Their different lifestyles are emphasized: for example, Pignon and Cheval enjoy watching a popular sport like soccer, whereas Brochant plays golf.
- Smarter Than You Look: Pignon seems to be really stupid, but in the end he manages to reconcile Brochant and his wife. Subverted, because he ruins everything shortly after.
- Spanner in the Works: Pignon ruins Brochant's plans. First, he falls on Brochant, so Brochant's back still hurts more. Then, he calls Marlne Sasseur instead of Dr Sorbier. And this is just the beginning of the film.
- Tough Room: Brochant's reaction to Cheval's jokes when he thinks his wife is at Meneaux's.
- Truth in Television: Veber wrote the play when he heard about dinners of the kind being actually organized by Parisian snobs.
- Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Main character Brochant takes part in the dinners, stole his best friend's wife, cheated on her for two years, and now refuses to acknowledge his mistress' existence. This is lampshaded in the end by Brochant, who, while trying to commit suicide, moans about how everyone hates him and that even an idiot like Pignon will hate "meanie Brochant".
- Unwanted Assistance: Brochant thinks this of Pignon, after he's managed to fall on him.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Franois Pignon and Lucien Cheval often argue with each other, especially since they support different soccer teams. However, they are still friends. Pignon even says that they argue often but they adore each other.
- Who's on First?:
- Actually a plot point, when Pignon thinks Marlne is Brochant's sister because her name is Sasseur ("His sister").
- And later, when he's told Leblanc's name is "Juste Leblanc"; "He doesn't have a first name?""Votre nom vous c'est Franois, c'est juste? Eh bien, lui, c'est pareil, c'est Juste."Badly translated (juste in French can mean both right and only) ''"Your name, it's Franois, it's right? Well, him, that's the same, it's Right".
- With Friends Like These...:
- Brochant is Leblanc's friend, but he stole his wife.
- Pignon to Brochant, at least in the first part of the movie, when he tries to help him and makes everything worse.
Every Wednesday night, a group of smug Parisian professionals hold a "diner de cons" to which each brings an unknowing idiot who competes for the title of prize idiot. This week, publisher Pierre Brochant (L'hermitte) has been set up with tax inspector Francois Pignon (Villeret), a chubby little maladroit who could bore for France about his hobby of making models from matchsticks.
However, Brochant is laid up by a golfing injury and has to cry off the dinner. Pignon still manages to get into Brochant's spacious apartment and when the publisher's alienated wife walks out, he makes a series of disastrous phone calls. Somehow, Pignon attracts to the central set a succession of unhelpful interlopers, including a cackling author (from whom Brochant stole his wife in the first place), a flakey and suicidal mistress and a near-rabid fellow tax inspector "who would audit his own mother".
With its single set (there are effective cutaways) and the all-in-one-eventful-evening plot, this could work equally well on the stage as the screen and stands as a perfect example of that most intricate of comedy genres, the French farce. Writer-director Veber delivers a marvellously-wrought plot at exactly the length it can sustain, and manages consistently to pull out situations that provoke laughter and astonishment.
At the heart of the story is a moral lesson learned by the callous Brochant, but thanks to a showboating performance by the tiny Villeret - who comes across as a more childlike Danny DeVito - the central idiot Pignon manages to be genuinely appalling as he says exactly the wrong thing, just in time to further hinder Brochant's chances of getting back with his wife or even out of the evening alive.
In a large saut pan or skillet, saut the garlic, red pepper flakes and anchovies in abundant olive oil over gentle heat, until the garlic barely begins to brown. Turn off the heat and add the minced parsley.
795a8134c1