Poison Friends

This film is up itself. Poison Friends is very smart, but it knows it. Why then is this incredibly French film so frequently engaging? Writer-Director Emmanuel Bourdieu's film centers on a group of elite literature-heads as they pursue writing, reading and general excelling. Andrè, Thibault Vinçon, appoints himself as the leader of this group and the others, surprisingly, accept this. At first, his confidence and arrogance is fresh and exciting to them, but the tides turn and as they begin to succeed themselves, they become disillusioned. All of the performances here are terrific. The sense of ensemble has obviously been nurtured throughout the shoot; the players seem to be enjoying their place in the story. The narrative twists about frequently and not being able to predict upcoming events adds to the enjoyment of this incredibly pretentious film. As Andrè believes, "Writers only write because they can't control themselves". Let's hope that Bourdieu pulls the reigns in on his next project, his word-heavy wank sessions could get tiresome.

7.5 on the DaveScale.

(dir. Emmanuel Bourdieu, France, 107 mins)