thecatcanwait ts like the junior cast from Ma Vie Sexuelle wandered in to this film.They're pretending to be a small clique of literature grad students cum wannabe writers. But one bright spark amongst them – Andre Mornay – keeps putting them off. Mornay loathes writers. Probably cus he can't be one himself. But he's clever, even a bit erudite. A clever big head. He wants to be telling all his submissive acolytes what to do, i.e not to write, or be writers. He keeps quoting Karl Kraus ("Why do some write? Because they're too weak not to") as a way of arrogantly subjugating their creative aspirations to his controlling will.If you're wearing the wrong kind of shoes he'll call them vile. Serving him coffee without sugar is pants. If you're scribbling away don't let him see or read it cus he'll dismiss it as "narcissistic cr-p" – and throw it in the bin (or delete it from your laptop, the sneaky git) Yes, he's a condescending tw-t all right. I could see that all the way along. I wonder why his friends didn't twig earlier. Too busy scribbling their narcissistic cr-p. And getting it published. Or too weakly characterised to stand up to him.So when he gets his final comeuppance you can't – well, i couldn't – feel an iota of sympathy for him.For such an apparently clever lad his lies and deceptions seem, at best farcically clumsy, at worst blatantly idiotic. A big flaw in the direction going on here. In need of a better screenplay. Lets ask one of his writer mates. They could make his phoniness more plausible. Or maybe they could just get rid of him completely. Simply write him out of the script.

HallmarkMovieBuff Professor's pet André Morney (Thibault Vinçon), an apparent apostle of Bohemian satirist Karl Kraus, kicks off this film by professing his contempt for writers and writing. This idea may hold interest for students and for adults who never left academia, but for many of us who left such questioning behind after graduation, in favor of more practical and relational pursuits, it merely bores. But hold on, it gets more interesting as the relationships between Morney and his disciples emerge.Morney continues his pose throughout the film. Yet, as we learn later, when it comes to his own thesis, he can manage barely more than a first draft. Indeed, when his faculty adviser (Jacques Bonnaffé) threatens to drop him as an advisee, Morney resorts to mild violence to secure his diploma.Meanwhile, Morney's diatribes against writing are so convincing that they prompt his friends and fellow students, Eloi (Malik Zidi) to toss away his manuscript for a novel, and Alexandre (Alexandre Steiger) to abandon writing altogether in favor of acting.This all comes to a head after Eloi's mother, Florence Duhaut (Dominique Blanc), a successful writer herself, rescues Eloi's novel from the trash and submits it for publication without his knowledge. Upon discovering this, Eloi is ready to sue his mother, but eventually all is forgiven, and upon publication, Alexandre is the reader at Eloi's book signing.But where is Morney? Off for a year at U. C. Berkeley, as supposed? Or not? And will he show up for the reading? As in a good college text book, one leaves the answers to these and other questions to the viewer.All actors are good looking and perform well, but Natacha Régnier, in particular, spikes male interest as the beautiful librarian, Marguerite.

charlytully Imagine that the next episode of THE MOLE plopped a gaggle of cerebral contestants not in the confines of American suburbia, but smack dab in the middle of a Parisian university community. The mole's objective, of course, would be to sabotage any progress toward authentic art or human communication on the part of his\her student peers. This episode comes with a unique twist: none of the other contestants realize the possibility of the mole's existence.Seeing a verbose Iago trying to snuff out any sniff at success on the part of classmates while expecting to receive laureate status via acclamation in LES AMITIES MALEFIQUES is one of the better film portrayals of self-delusion since NOTES ON A SCANDAL.If this sounds interesting, don't bother waiting for an American remake. There is no cute kid part like MOSTLY MARTHA, no explosions as in LA FEMME NIKITA, and not as much creepiness as THE VANISHING. This one's likely to remain a Gallic exclusive.

chatbada I saw this movie yesterday and all I can say is that it is really intelligent, well performed, and the filming is also surprising because of a "Brechtian" way of reminding you that what you are seeing is a movie,not the reality...as if, the director wanted to tell you that he wouldn't deceive you. This picture is not only brilliantly written, with strong dialogs, and an intelligent story, it also has a Hitchcockien touch. But, be warned that it is not a film done in a way that one is used to. Finally, it moved me a lot from the beginning to its end. One of the best and original french movie of this year. Definitely a brilliant and authentic artistic work.