Harry un ami qui vous veut du bien (2000)

Réalisateur:

Dominik Moll

Scénaristes:

Dominik Moll (scenario) and
Gilles Marchand (scenario) ...
(suite)

Date de sortie:

15 août 2000 (France)

Genre:

Comedie | Drame | Thriller

Accroche:

Who needs enemies?

Intrigue:

Harry knew Michel in high school; they meet again by accident, Harry inserts himself in Michel's life... and things take a sinister turn.

Plot Keywords:

Writer | Writing | Vacation | Dentist | Multiple Murder

Récompenses:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 7 wins & 13 nominations

Avis des utilisateurs:

Doctor Jekyll and mister Hyde in the French country...

Ensemble

Laurent Lucas	...	Michel
Sergi López	...	Harry (as Sergi Lopez)
Mathilde Seigner	...	Claire
Sophie Guillemin	...	Prune (Plum)
Liliane Rovère	...	Mother
Dominique Rozan	...	Father
Michel Fau	...	Eric
Victoire de Koster	...	Jeanne
Laurie Caminata	...	Sarah
Lorena Caminata	...	Iris

Réalisé par
Dominik Moll

Scénaristes
Dominik Moll		(scenario) and
Gilles Marchand		(scenario)
Francis Villain		(poem "Un poignard en peau de nuit")

Produit par
Michel Saint-Jean	....	producer
Eric Zaouali	....	line producer

Musique originale
David Whitaker		(as David Sinclair Whitaker)

Image
Matthieu Poirot-Delpech

Montage
Yannick Kergoat

Distribution des rôles
Antoinette Boulat

Création des décors
Michel Barthélémy

Décorateur de plateau
Boris Piot
Jérôme Portier		(uncredited)

Création des costumes
Virginie Montel

Maquillage
Sylvie Aid	....	key makeup artist
Laurent Blanchard	....	hair stylist
Murielle Brot	....	makeup artist
Valérie Tranier	....	makeup artist

Directeur de production
Jerome Albertini	....	assistant unit manager
Sandrine Brauer	....	post-production supervisor
Clément Sentilhes	....	unit production manager
Eric Zaouali	....	production manager

Assistant réalisateur
Rafaele Ravinet-Virbel	....	first assistant director
Stephanie Vallé	....	third assistant director
Léonard Vindry	....	second assistant director

Département Art
François Borgeaud	....	propman
Xavier Buffin	....	head painter
Eric Conrad	....	assistant decorator
Jean-Pierre Delettre	....	carpenter
Jacky Frankiel	....	painter
Mohamed Hamadache	....	assistant decorator
Xavier Laroyenne	....	carpenter
Lionel Lesage	....	carpenter
Pascale Mansion	....	assistant decorator
Frédérique Menichetti	....	painter
Boris Piot	....	set dresser
François Scala	....	carpenter
Martinus Van Lunen	....	construction coordinator

Technicien du son
Nicolas Becker	....	sound effects editor
Marilena Cavola	....	assistant sound editor (as Marilena Cavola Hardy)
Peter Cobbin	....	sound engineer
Gérard de Lagarde	....	sound effects editor
Thomas Desjonquères	....	sound editor
Andrew Dudman	....	assistant sound engineer
Gérard Hardy	....	sound editor
Gérard Hardy	....	sound
Gérard Lamps	....	sound re-recording mixer
François Maurel	....	sound
Fred Messa	....	boom operator
Mohamed Mourchid	....	sound recordist
Alex Scannell	....	assistant sound engineer
Williams Schmit	....	adr mixer

Effets spéciaux
Rémi Chouroulinkov	....	special effects
Dominique Corbin	....	special effects
Pierre Foury	....	special effects
Jean-Pierre Grandet	....	special effects

Visual Effects
Luc Augereau	....	visual effects producer
François Vagnon	....	visual effects supervisor

Caméra et Département Electrique
Kamel Belaïd	....	electrician
Fabien Benzaquen	....	assistant camera: "b" camera
Alexandre Bon	....	assistant camera: "b" camera
Jacques Bulot	....	gaffer
Claire Caroff	....	focus puller
Stéphanie De Fenin	....	assistant camera
Frédéric North	....	pilot: camera helicopter
Philippe Quaisse	....	still photographer
Carlos Ribeiro	....	grip
Hervé Rousset	....	key grip
Mohan Valmy	....	electrician

Département Casting
Constance Demontoy	....	casting: children

Département Costume et garde-Robe
Isabelle Pannetier	....	wardrobe

Dpartement Editorial
Agathe Cauvin	....	assistant editor
Olivier Gourlay	....	first assistant editor
Isabelle Julien	....	color timer

Département Musique
Ian Brown	....	musician: piano solos
Hakima Guerziz	....	assistant music consultant
Nick Mera	....	music copyist
Eric Michon	....	music consultant
Jonathan Rees	....	musician: first violin
Colin Sheen	....	orchestra leader
David Whitaker	....	conductor (as David Sinclair Whitaker)
David Whitaker	....	music arranger: "Ramona" (as David Sinclair Whitaker)
Su Whitaker	....	assistant to composer (as Susan Whitaker)

Divers
Sandrine Brauer	....	production assistant
Pierre Cadeac	....	animal trainer
Nathalie Lampre	....	production administrator
Tanguy Thuaud	....	aerial shot
Michel Védié	....	groupman (as Michel Védie)
Charles Zemer	....	production assistant
Anna Zenowicz	....	script supervisor

Companies de production

• Canal+ (with the participation of)
• Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) (with the participation of)
• Diaphana Films (presents)
• M6 Films
• Procirep (with the support of)
• Sofica Sofinergie 5 (in association with)

Distributeurs

• Diaphana Films (France) (theatrical)
• Film Office (2002) (France) (DVD)
• A-Film Distribution (2001) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Buena Vista International (Sweden) (2001) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• A-Film Home Entertainment (200?) (Netherlands) (video)
• Alfa Films (Argentina)
• Artificial Eye (UK) (all media)
• Cetera International (Japan)
• Keyfilms Roma (Italy)
• Miramax Home Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Miramax Zoë (2001) (USA) (subtitled)
• Vértigo Films (Spain)

Technicien des effets spéciaux

• L'Etude et la Supervision des Trucages (L'E.S.T.) (visual effects)

Autres Companies

• Abbey Road Studios  music recorded at
• Pro Arte Orchestra of London  orchestra

Autre(s) titre(s):

Harry, He's Here to Help (International: English title) (UK) (original subtitled version)
Harry Is Here to Help (USA)
With a Friend Like Harry, un ami qui vous veut du bien (USA) (complete title)
With a Friend Like Harry... (USA)

MPAA:

Rated R for language, some violence and a scene of nudity.

Durée:

117 min

Pays:

France

Langue:

Français | Espagnol

Couleur:

Couleur

Rapport de forme:

2,35 : 1

Son:

Dolby Digital

Classification:

Singapore:PG | Iceland:16 | Malaysia:U | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIA | Mexico:B | New Zealand:M | Portugal:M/16 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R

Lieux de tournage:

Château Hôtel Mont-Royal, La Chapelle-en-Serval, Oise, France

Société:

Canal+

Guillemet:

[on how to deal with difficult parents]
Harry Ballestero: You have to overreact.

Connexions De Film:

Edité en Making of 'Harry un ami qui vous veut du bien' (2001) (V)

Bande son:

Ramona

Doctor Jekyll and mister Hyde in the French country...

One of the first moments of this movie makes inevitably think of "Shining" (1980) by Stanley Kubrick and "Funny Games" (1997) by Michael Haneke: an aerial shot which follows a car on the highway. Inside it, a typical French family who goes on holiday in their country house hoping to find some peace. It's particularly true for the parents, Michel and his wife who seem to be all keyed up because of their restless children. On a rest area, Michel meets an old school friend: Harry who proposes Michel to come and spend a couple of days to his country house. The latter accepts. From the beginning, Harry appears as a charismatic and mysterious character. Who is he? Where does he come from? What does he want? We learn very few things about him or just vague facts. The director Dominik Voll preferred to leave high and dry Harry's origins and it's better this way because the spectator can imagine whatever he wants about him. Be that as it may, we can bring a beginning of answer to the third quoted question: Harry wishes Michel well and he's ready to do anything for this, even to kill...

After a six-year absence (his last movie was "intimacy" in 1994), Dominik Voll made a successful comeback with "With a Friend like Harry" (2000). He seduced both the critics and the public and won 4 French Oscars in 2001 including Best Actor for Sergi Lopez. It's funny to note down that the basic idea for his second feature-length film came to him from a holiday memory when, just like Michel he met an old school friend which he hadn't seen for years. This trivial detail inspired him to focus his movie on the theme of the double. Besides, the first apparition of the two main protagonists happens in front of a mirror. Harry can be considered as the incarnation of Michel's repressed drives and buried desires. In a way, he's what Michel would like to be or to do (consciously or not). I think there are numerous examples in Voll's opus and I will retain the three following points: Harry enjoys a perfect sexual life (eating a raw egg after an orgasm is good for health!) and perhaps Michel would like to know something similar to this. Then, Harry kills Michel's parents and every time the latter invites them for lunch or dinner, he has to fetch them: his father can't drive for medical reasons. Perhaps, Michel has hidden death wishes about his parents. At last, by congratulating Michel about the writings he made in high school, Harry probably wakes in Michel hidden desires of writer. Roughly, Harry wants to help his friend to advance in life, no matter what the price is.

"With a friend like Harry" is Voll's second film in six years but his making is absolutely awesome. If the beginning of the movie turns out to be a little trite:how many times in cinema have we seen the trick of the helpful character invading a so far peaceful universe? But fortunately, once this moment passed, the rest makes forget this weakness. The movie adopts a slow rhythm without hastes and opts for the unexpected to play with the spectator's nerves. Dominik Voll weaves a more and more heavy even stifling atmosphere marked out by Michel's psychological changing who seems to become a little unrecognizable to his wife. Besides, she tells to Harry: "you've got a bad influence on Michel". This heavy atmosphere is reinforced by a precise and rigorous making which favors close-up shots and the length of quite numerous sequences. Overrall the director achieved a tour de force by mixing several cinema genres in a coherent story. What is close to comedy in the beginning of the story ends up turning to drama and thriller and the abrupt changes of tone follow on from each other with a diabolical logic. Moreover, Voll knows how to use black humor and certain moments give sometimes to the work an eccentric side.

Needless to say that the cast is largely equal to the story. Already remarked in the invigorating "Western" (1997) by Manuel Poirier (whose he is one of his favorite actors), Sergi Lopez finds the role of his life in Harry. It will certainly be hard for him to equal his performance in the future.

Highly recommended, "With a Friend like Harry" is a work that can be understood on several levels. It's a fascinating work and however we come out of the projection with a little uneasiness because of Michel's disturbing face. Harry's influence has altered him and he looks threatening as if he was going to commit something bad. As for Harry, in the domain of the pain in the neck characters, he is, in the long run, not exactly like Seraphin Lampion in "the adventures of Tintin"!