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Poison Friends
Film
3 out of 5 stars
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Time Out says
3 out of 5 stars
Long after it’s forgotten as a festival favorite, Poison Friends
may be remembered for André Morney (Vinçon), who is, quite simply, one
of the most repugnant social climbers ever unleashed onscreen. Looking
like Dirty Harry’s Scorpio, he’s the kind of man who insults
someone’s shoes for no reason whatsoever. Over the course of the film,
André befriends, then systematically berates, the other students in a
college literature class, encouraging them not to publish their stories
and novels because—as a way of disguising his own incompetence—he
argues that true intellectuals don’t write. And for some reason, they believe him, even when he pushes one of
them (Steiger) to lie on a résumé. Simply by reiterating his
antiwriting credo, André persuades his “friend” Eloi (Zidi) to burn the
love letter he writes to Marguerite (Régnier). Later, André plagiarizes
his thesis and has the temerity to slap his professor (Bonnaffé) when
it’s rejected. Yet the prof still gives André a diploma. Poison Friends subscribes to the not-entirely-bogus notion
that confidence trumps all. Even so, outside of movieland, any sentient
being would immediately recognize André as a shit. As his schemes
develop, the film falls into a predictable pattern of chortles (at his
behavior) and forehead slaps (at others’ reactions). It’s an agreeably
nasty drama that, by virtue of the high pitch of its absurdity, nearly
morphs into an agreeably dark comedy.
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