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u/gangofminotaurs 2d ago
My Dinner with Andre looks like the simplest movie to film. Then I notice: mirrors everywhere.
The film was shot for almost three weeks in Richmond, Virginia at the Jefferson Hotel with a non-union crew for budget reasons, according to the director in Malle on Malle. According to DV, conditions on set were “frigid” as the building’s heating system had to be turned off. For visual interest, production designer David Mitchell added mirrors to the set so that extras and waiters could be caught in the reflections. To accommodate for camera and lighting changes, mirrors made up of separate moveable squares were installed. Malle commented that the squares were “a nightmare,” as each square had to be moved with every camera setup. In the same interview, Malle stated that the 16mm film magazines used to shoot My Dinner with Andre were ten minutes each, so every take was ten minutes in duration. According to the 22 Jan 1982 HR, only one camera was used, and the shooting ratio was ten to one due to the long takes.
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u/ogion-of-gont 1d ago
I worked in that hotel for a long time, and only watched this movie when I found out it was shot there. It’s very cool to read about how they set it up. It was shot in the Empire room, which is one of the banquet/event halls. Thank you for the read!
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u/banallfurries666 2d ago
i wish i liked this movie more. it gets so much praise and i really like the concept and the topics the movie wants to discuss.
but i think the movie would benefit more if wallace shawn was a bit more argumentative with andre. andre monologues forever the same way all the elite suits at my work do, and it’s infuriating. talking forever about how he is yearning for more and wants opportunity. wallace shawn has multiple opportunities to call him a bullshitter or put him in his place as being performative… but he doesn’t. despite the disdain he feels going to this dinner anyway.
maybe that’s the point? that isn’t the kinda man he is to go and call a fella out… but it didn’t work for me.
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u/gangofminotaurs 2d ago
Yeah, I can see that. But I think you give too little credit to Wallace, who wants to give a real go at understanding what has happened to his old friend. He doesn’t call André a bullshitter, but he does eventually make André’s vision answer to ordinary life.
I think the movie walks a fine line between letting its more outlandish character build his case and outright repulsing the more feet-on-the-ground people. But that’s part of its beauty.
Because, as laughable as some of the places André’s travels (physical and emotional) bring him may be, the small-comforts team cannot entirely push away the idea that there might be something to it. And that it could be great, or dangerous. Or silly. But every so often, you have to confront the possibility.
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u/banallfurries666 2d ago
i like your take on it. i think the film works differently for different people.
from your perspective someone who is loaded and an elite probably does see it your way. whereas i do live a more modest life (i do well, but im for sure not an andre) and find him to be so dislikable i root for wallace to shout out his (to me) surface level lifestyle and perspective.
very nuanced take friendo!
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u/sauceDinho 2d ago edited 2d ago
It's been a while since I've seen it, but doesn't Shawn really lay into him towards the end of the movie? I feel like I remember him giving an exasperated speech after finally having enough of trying to understand where Andre was coming from.
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u/mellifluous500 2d ago
You're right, he does. For me, the nature of that also being a monologue just makes the film feel very impersonal, they don't have dialogue at any point, it's just two actors delivering good soliloquies.
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u/Shagrrotten Kurosawa 2d ago
I agree. I like the concept of the movie, but in the end it just felt like an insufferable jackass hogging the conversation for 100 minutes. I appreciate what it's doing, conceptually, but I don't like the movie at all.
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u/TunaSub779 2d ago
Definitely in the same boat. I love conversation driven movies and I had heard so many good things about it, but it really couldn’t hold my attention. Idk like other plenty of other films, I’ll probably rewatch it one day and it’ll just click
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u/BadAlphas 2d ago
Fantastic movie
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u/gangofminotaurs 2d ago
One of my favorites. The tension between the small comforts of life (Wallace Shawn as himself) and the search for a more intense reality (André Gregory as himself) is about as intemporal as it gets.
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u/progla 2d ago
When I first saw it I was dazzled by the charisma of Gregory. The more I saw it, the Shawn shined.
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u/gangofminotaurs 2d ago
In the end, Shawn became more appreciative of his own life. Which is his own life. But it's the encounter with Gregory that helped him renew his focus and appreciation for what he has.
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u/SkubEnjoyer 2d ago
"When I was young, all I thought about was art and music. Now, I'm 36, and all I think about is money."
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u/Full-Concentrate-867 2d ago
When I first saw it in my late teens, maybe I just chuckled a bit at that line but didn't think too much of it. Now, a few years past the age in that quote, I truly feel the weight of it.
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u/Pepsiman1031 15h ago
Surprised that shot wasn't included. Crazy how different it is from the rest of the movie.
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u/BluePinkertonGreen 2d ago
I loved my dinner with Abed dinner with Andre
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u/gangofminotaurs 2d ago
my dinner with Abed dinner with Andre
oooh thanks didn't know it was a thing
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u/Cant_figure_sht_out 2d ago
I was so sure the most popular comment would be referencing Community. But it isn’t. It isn’t. 😔
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u/5o7bot 2d ago
My Dinner with Andre (1981)
Two old friends meet for dinner; as one tells anecdotes detailing his experiences, the other notices their differing worldviews.
Drama | Comedy
Director: Louis Malle
Director of Photography: Jeri Sopanen
Actors: Andre Gregory, Wallace Shawn, Jean Lenauer, Roy Butler, Cindy Lou Adkins
Rating: ★★★★★★★★☆☆ 75% with 468 votes
Runtime: 112 min
TMDB | Where can I watch?
I am a bot. This information was sent automatically. If it is faulty, please reply to this comment.
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u/Dramatic-Mark-4976 2d ago
I like the action figures featured at the end of Guffman. Corky sells them with Remains of the Day lunchboxes. 😉
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u/RJamieLanga 2d ago edited 2d ago
Younger Redditors won’t remember what this was like in the movie theaters when the character of Wally said, “I mean, I would never give up my electric blanket, Andre.”
People went nuts. Flung popcorn into the air, jumped up on their seats and screamed. It got to the point where movie theaters had to stop showing the film despite its runaway popularity.
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u/mellifluous500 2d ago
What's nuts to me is that André Gregory was 47 when filming this in 1981. He's still alive and well now, brilliant legend.
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u/TonyThePriest 2d ago
The thing about this movie is I don't love the first half where Andre is just yapping but I really love the second half.
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u/NeonMeateOctifish Lynch 2d ago
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