Review: My Dinner with Andre

At my local library, I found this very interesting film. All I knew about the movie was based on the cover of the DVD: a standard plate that can be found at the average restaurant. The description said that they discuss topics that, basically, are not bought up in the average conversation. I was intrigued, and checked it out of the library with much enthusiasm.



There were a plethora of subjects in which both Wally and Andre talked on in the movie. I decided to take notes, but unfortunately the epiphany came 20 minutes before the movie ended. Despite my lack of impeccable timing, I did remember a few points from the film:

• "He hands me a seed and says, 'this is a pine tree. Get out while you can.'" This point was referring to the point of the conversation where the topic of living in the same place (in their case, the city) for a long time. When Andre said this, I thought about if I had an acorn and had to leave the city I'm in to plant it somewhere else. Then I remembered another time I wanted to keep an acorn, and it lost its color and dried up until it was no longer contained sufficient life. I thought, "why did this happen to the seed?" The I answered myself saying, "because I took too long". This metaphor fits perfectly for the topic of escaping.
• I am happy to see a cold cup of coffee, that same coffee that was there for me yesterday and was sitting overnight, ready for me to drink. That's basically what it said, if not exactly. I would be happy to see something like that too, but I never really focus on how something like that would make me feel. I'd imagine that if I were lonely enough, I would be pleased to see an old cup of coffee too. Growing up, I would take a rock and place it in a specific place in my neighborhood, eager to see it in that same spot the next time I pass it. If this is the same concept, then I understand.
• Terms like husband, wife, daughter, son, are just ways to provide solid ground. What is a wife, husband, and so on? You have a son, then he grows to be a person bigger than you, and then leaves. Where'd the son go? This was he conclusion of the film, left unanswered and lingering in the air, lifted by the piano score. I thought about how some people don't like labeling their relationship. With a concept like this, providing yourself with solid ground isn't such a bad thing, regardless of whether or not you are average. In certain relationships, marriage can change the way two individuals feel about one another (whether they wold like to admit it or not). This could correlate with the fact that those two are now labeled husband and wife.Without labels, people are free to be whomever the want. What if I were to make a new word that just meant that I loved someone in a certain way? It can still be a label, but not in a way that isolated that person to feel at a certain level from me. It seems too complicated just to describe the people around you, but it's the principle that matters the most. You don't have to subject yourself to a label you are not happy with.

I obviously learned a lot from this movie, and you may learn from it too. The movie is mainly two men sitting at a table talking for an hour and 40 minutes, but if you're attentive enough, it should be rather enlightening. My Dinner with Andre is definitely a film I would suggest to particular individuals (I wish I can own it, but it goes back to the library soon).