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Wallace Shawn, Andre Gregory, Jean Lenauer, Roy Butler

A extended conversation between two old friends over dinner proves an unexpectedly fascinating subject for a film in the critically acclaimed My Dinner with André. The talkers in question are André Gr... read more read more...egory, a renowned experimental theater director, and playwright and actor Wallace Shawn, both of whom play themselves. The film is not a documentary, but a condensation of several real discussions fashioned into a dramatic exchange by Shawn and director Louis Malle. The subtle conflict stems from the differences in the men's characters: Gregory is an inquisitive, uninhibited wanderer, willing to travel to remote lands to take part in unusual foreign rituals, while Shawn is the cynical, realistic New Yorker, more concerned with the challenges and rewards of day-to-day city life. Malle approaches their philosophical yet playful back-and-forth with a straightforward, minimal style that only rarely wanders outside its restaurant setting. The focus therefore falls on Shawn's and Gregory's contrasting verbal styles and facial expressions, highlighting conversational nuances normally lost on film. While the idea of watching any conversation for over 90 minutes, no matter how fascinating, may turn off some viewers, enough audiences have supported the film to make it an art-house classic. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

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85% liked it

5,797 ratings

Critics

89% liked it

19 critics

PG, 1 hr. 50 min.

Directed by: Louis Malle

Release Date: October 11, 1981

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DVD Release Date: February 13, 2001

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Flixster Reviews (461)

  • hunterjt13
    August 7, 2011
    hunterjt13
    Two men talk about the proper way to live.
    I am having trouble deciphering whether I didn't like this film because of how much I disagreed with Andre, who has free reign over most the screen time, or because the film, through Wally's eventual conversion, seems to support Andre's ... read moreviews, or because it was poorly made. I think a little of all of the above is the best answer.
    Andre's pseudo-Buddhist sensibility suggests that "just being" leads to not living in cocoons which he contends is what most people do. Of course, there is some merit to this view, but from all we know about Andre's life, it's hard to believe that he practices all he preaches. After all, this is a man who has traveled to India, Poland, and a few other places I can't specifically remember; he speaks longingly of a kind of "christening" in Poland, during which he was blindfolded, stripped naked, and nearly buried alive. And he's arguing for asceticism. It's like a whore arguing for chastity.
    One of Wally's rare moments of protest features him suggesting that one might do well to achieve things, do shit. And Wally's protest is weak because he fails to suggest that the cocoons they think people are living in couldn't be caused by a lack of ambition rather than a lack of "being."
    As a film, it would have been better served by balancing the conversation. This is a monologue by Andre, not so much a conversation. Although I disagree with Andre, I can see some valid points to his argument, and those points - indeed the subject as a whole - would have been better served by fully examining the contrary. I think only after we hear the full argument can we make an informed decision.
    Overall, My Dinner with Andre is an admirable idea - I'd love to see more films so simply built, just two people talking about philosophy - but Andre's dominance of the conversation is just as over-whelming as the content of this speeches.
  • pier007
    December 6, 2009
    pier007
    Brilliant dialectical piece. So simple and yet so transcendental.
  • binky013
    April 7, 2006
    binky013
    One huge star for Wally Shawn. He earns it--and I mean EARNS it--not for his acting ability--although I love him as an actor--but for sitting there and patiently and politely listening to the interminable droning of Andre. The prototypical "dinner from hell."
  • fb20312798
    July 28, 2010
    fb20312798
    For a movie where two men do nothing but sit around and talk, its pretty engaging, mostly because the writing is so strong. Its rare that a director just lets the actors and the words drive a film, so I give Louis Malle an enormous amount of credit for just allowing the character... read mores to talk and not try to be stylistic.
  • fb874055034
    November 19, 2011
    fb874055034
    Wonderful little film. Utterly unique.
  • bcavros
    August 9, 2011
    bcavros
    Their conversation centers around how most people wander through life (Shawn) blindly or "dead" as opposed to Andre who has wondered the earth to enrich-en his connection with his life, family and overall existence.

    "It's inconceivable" that I had not watched this before 2011.... read more Wallace Shawn (Vizzini from Princess Bride) is the audiences access to the conversation with Andre Gregory. The conversations pacing is excellent. It runs widely off course in the beginning and slows and beautifully in the end.

    Not really a film for someone who does not lead an examined life. I think most people under 25 will not really enjoy it. It is really more for people who wish the could rekindle their childhood/teen ambition/dreams.
  • anastasia57001
    November 13, 2009
    anastasia57001
    A film about truth, art, theatre, reality, human relationships, and a bunch of other subjects, but basically a film about awareness. Awareness of the person as a human being, awareness of the artist, as a cretive force that changes and shapes our perception of reality- all those ... read moredifficult subjects that are hard to define, here are treated easily, without effort, just as the going to a casual dinner with an old friend.

    But we all know that dinner with an old friend is never simple. In this case we hear about Andre and his mental problems beforehand, so every crazy story he shares with us in the beginning, almost doesn't make sense, until the film wraps up. It takes a bit of patience, to grasp the meaning, as he shares all the details of a mad "awakening"session with Grotowski's group in a Polish forest, but it's never dull. After all, to find the meaning, one has to look from outside, outside reality, in this case. All those acting exercises, they are surreal.

    Don't even get me started on direction. Louis Malle uses every detail carefully, uses the body language of the actors and the mirrors in the room, even the coming and going of the waiter, as a valued comment that propels the story.

    I feel sorry for people who don't get Louis Malle, because they are just missing too much. Anyone who's wondering how could a director make a film about two people talking that lasts two hours (without them ever leaving the table), and not be boring... well you should really see this. It's never boring. You just have to get the point everytime, and everytime they go on telling another story, follow the thread. In the end you might as well discover, what evades anyone, from time to time: meaning.
  • smootysveen
    April 24, 2007
    smootysveen
    A great dialogue movie. I love that Wallace Shawn couldn't quite make it through the script without saying "inconcievable."
  • HuskersNC949597
    February 16, 2012
    HuskersNC949597
    I was fascinated by the whole concept, just two people at a table for 2 hours. I'm almost disappointed to read the conversations had apparently already occurred to at least some extent (from the description above.) It can be hard not to want to nod off now and then, though, as ... read moreis the case in real life conversations, or maybe I'm just rude. OK, that's it.
  • docmizz
    January 23, 2012
    docmizz
    almost like a one-on-one satsang presenting many perspectives that now mostly live in wisdom traditions. (Random suggestion: if you enjoy this film and are somewhat interested in looking deeper in to the Self check youtube for videos by adyashanti, mooji or Anthony de Mello).

View All My Dinner with André Reviews

Critic Reviews

Christopher Long
July 25, 2009
Christopher Long, Movie Metropolis

(It) is a downright transgressive film because it brazenly allows its characters to just talk. Actually it allows Andre to talk and, just as importantly, for Wally to listen. Full Review

Sean Axmaker
July 16, 2009
Sean Axmaker, Turner Classic Movies Online

... an intellectual bull session as cinematic performance piece... Full Review

James Kendrick
July 1, 2009
James Kendrick, Q Network Film Desk

What makes the film so intriguing and so beguiling and so utterly wonderful is the way it slowly reveals itself, uncoiling in ways that don't produce dramatic fireworks, but rather gradual realizations Full Review

Joseph Jon Lanthier
June 16, 2009
Joseph Jon Lanthier, Slant Magazine

But what an egg it is. Full Review

Andrew L. Urban
January 16, 2009
Andrew L. Urban, Urban Cinefile

Louis Malle's film was unique and exceptional in 1981, and it's still fairly unusual. It's a lesson in the value of listening and squeezing riches about humanity out of the swag of talk Full Review

Cole Smithey
October 5, 2006
Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com

Witty, urbane, original and very dated.

Gerry Shamray
February 7, 2003
Gerry Shamray, Sun Newspapers of Cleveland

It's all talk, most of it interesting.

Ken Hanke
December 4, 2002
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Like watching paint dry, only less entertaining.

Jeremy Heilman
July 4, 2002
Jeremy Heilman, MovieMartyr.com

It's difficult to criticize the experiments of a movie that so boldly disregards most cinematic convention. Full Review

Dennis Schwartz
January 1, 2000
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

A couple of New York intellectuals get together for dinner and have a confessional chat about their life. Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory play themselves. Full Review

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