Before writing about the movie itself, I would like to raise a few questions for my fellow readers here……
Do you sometimes think about why we are living this routine life going no-where? Do you sometimes feel lost like a wandering soul in search of the unknown? Have you ever tasted the difference between the state of Loneliness and Aloneness? Can you easily sit down in a comfortable posture doing just nothing for a few minutes, simply enjoying your being? Have you ever thought about the only certainty of life….which is DEATH or Does the word DEATH makes you nervous and fills you with a shivering fear of losing all the loved ones around you?
If the majority of the answers to the above questions are NO, then please don’t even try to see this movie as it has nothing in the name of entertainment but has got everything in the name of enlightenment. If you haven’t ever thought of all the above things in your life for a single moment then it’s of no use spending your precious two hours on this unexplainable phenomenon which goes beyond the normal thought process of a human mind. And if you still go on to try this rare gem……then in all possibilities, it will be like watching a regional flick whose language you don’t understand in the first place.
BUT if you have YES to most of the questions asked here then this remarkable gem of Cinema will be like a precious discourse of your Loving Spiritual MASTER which may bring about new changes in your life and your thinking patterns.
In clear words “My Dinner With Andre” is not a movie at all. It’s entirely a new and unusual experience to have which may or may not strike you on the positive side. It has dialogues like a sharp knife piercing down your soul resulting in deep wounds. And at the same time it has such calm and soothing lines which may work like an effective medicine for your open scars.
The movie revolves around only two characters chatting with each other on a dinner and the third one is only the waiter serving them the dinner at regular intervals. Throughout the two hours the two persons on the table are just talking about their strange but important experiences of life without any attempt of reaching at any conclusion. Their valuable, explosive and enlightening discussion is left with an open end by the director, leaving the viewer to have his own interpretations of the talks. Hence it is not an easy task watching and understanding “My Dinner With Andre”. It may make your restless, it may be hugely disturbing and it may even bore you for a few moments in the mid. But at the end, if you are able to stick with those two old persons talking on the screen for about two hours, then the movie will surely be like a refreshing & rejuvenating shower after a tiring day.
Frankly speaking, if you have ever experienced the presence of an enlightened master in your life and have also tasted the fruits of the calm meditations then “My Dinner With Andre” will be exactly like meditating with an open mind. As I see it, it’s an important movie, which should essentially be watched by everyone who is walking on his own spiritual path of life towards an unknown goal.
In the end, I would seriously like to request to find it, borrow it, buy it or rent it, but grab it somehow and watch it in the dark along with your lovable companion holding your arm. Watching movies could never be more meaningful with flicks such as “My Dinner with Andre”.
Directed by Louis Malle
Writers and Actors : Wallace Shawn & Andre Gregory
Tags :
My Dinner With Andre (1981), Movies To See Before You Die-Drama, Must See Movies List at bobbytalkscinema.com, Not to Be Missed Movies List by Bobby Sing
