Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38524 in DVD
• Brand: Miramax
• Released on: 2001-10-23
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: French, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 116 minutes

Amazon.com
It takes nearly an hour for anything unusual to happen in With a Friend Like Harry, but that first hour is oddly unsettling. German filmmaker Dominik Moll reveals the trouble with Harry (Sergi López) with low-key precision, his thriller sensibility channeled from Hitchcock through Claude Chabrol, while emphasizing casual conversation in the style of Eric Rohmer. Harry's found Michel (Laurent Lucas) in a public restroom, identifying himself as an old schoolmate who remembers far too much about Michel, even though Michel has no recollection of Harry at all. But Harry's an ingratiating type, and nice enough on the surface, so Michel invites Harry and his girlfriend, Plum (Sophie Guillemin), to the summer cottage he's renovating with his wife, Claire (Mathilde Seigner), and their three young daughters. The Spanish actor López (from An Affair of Love) modulates his performance so carefully that Harry's psychosis--never explained, but strangely compelling--reverberates well beyond the film's shocking conclusion. It turns out Harry's been a helpful friend after all, but that's cold comfort in a film that warns us against the kindness of strangers. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
A smart new horror story, at once thrilling and upsetting, from the director Dominik Moll. Michel (Laurent Lucas), a typically fretful father on vacation with his wife and children, meets an old schoolmate named Harry (Sergi López), who promptly starts changing Michel's life for the better. This entails buying him a new car and then getting to work on his ornery parents, his tired wife, and his frustrated ambitions as a writer. You can't really fault Harry's logic, and that's what makes him so daunting; his analysis of Michel's messy existence would do for just about anyone. It's his homicidal methods that somehow feel de trop, although Michel can no more be rid of him than Othello can slip from the clutches of Iago. All this is told with a tight, sweaty concentration. Anyone thinking of getting married and starting a family should probably stay clear of Moll's movie. As for driving around Europe, forget it. With Sophie Guillemin as Harry's inflatable girlfriend. In French. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Intense, Polanski-like thriller almost a gem.
With a Friend Like Harry takes quite a while to reveal itself. It's establishing a tone and the relationships of those you are going to be involved with. The film has a lot in common with
Hitchcock in how it takes its time (like say Psycho did for instance) in deciding to tell you what is going on. When you start realizing what is going on... the suspense starts to increase. I was ahead of this film through most of its running time, but that worked in terms of building suspense as well because the characters are ones you are interested in and care about.

I'm purposely not going to tell you much about the film. In terms of re-counting plot synopsis' there's not a great deal to this story of a married couple who bump into a helpful stranger and his wife, a stranger who had gone to high school with the husband. He's odd, but seems friendly and reveals himself to be very quirky but seemingly friendly. There's wonderful details and ironies to be discovered (perhaps on your second viewing) within this film about it's characters. Gee a film where you are actually interested in the characters--imagine that. It slowly builds And reveals and has a few tricks up its sleeve. The film is character based and does not rely on Any over the top type set pieces. You might say it's quiet that way. Quiet in the way an early Polanski film like Cul de Sac was. The tension builds, slowly and methodical until you're more than ready for almost anything.

Direct Dominik Moll cannily manipulates the audiences in how he places his actors and uses his camera. He captures the tensions of a normal life with an accuracy that rings so true you'll identify at least in part with Michel, (Laurent Lucas), and his wife, Claire (Mathilde Seigner, sister of actress Emmanuelle Seigner) and their 3 children.

Michel is a very modern and updated version of the hen-pecked husband. We'll come to realize that in his effort to be 'fair' and in trying to please others, Michael has completely lost himself. He's buried his dreams and lets others use him as a doormat. His children, his wife and his parents have all played a part in overwhelming him and when he has a few spare moments to think about what has happened he resents the way his life has become something not his own.

Harry (Sergi Lopez) bumps into Michael in a roadside restroom and recognizes him. They went to school together didn't they? When Michel and Claire's car breaks down, Harry and his rather vacant but sexy girlfriend, Plum (Sophie Guillemin) offer them assistance. Thus begins what at first seems like an updated variation of The Man Who Came To Dinner as siphoned through one of those Pacific Heights, Single White Female, Or The Hand that Rocks the Cradle films. Most of those tried to mimic Hitchcock with mixed to poor results.

This film however has as much in common with Hitchcock as it does with an early Polanski effort such as Cul de Sac. This is a good thing. On the surface most of the characters seem Average, but then we begin to peel off the layers. The film is pretty easy to predict but there are twists that work quite well. For the most part the twists are believable and do not de-rail the film into some kind of slasher film histironics as often happens with films in this genre.

The acting is all top-notch and the situations build convincingly. What may be difficult to fully accept are the motivations driving Harry to insist on being Michael's friend. Perhaps an extra layer could have been revealed to better convince us, Harry has reasons we can almost identify with for doing some of the things he tries to do. I can make up (in my mind) a few elements of a back-story to make it work very well indeed.... But it would have been nice if the script-writer had added another layer, and put it on the screen. Some are going to find the film strains credibility to some degree and it won't connect with them and be as effective as it could have been.. The characters in this film I'm happy to say don't seem to be used merely as convenient devices for a clever stylish film. They act, sound and behave as normal people do. You don't see this very much in the movies anymore.

NOTE:
The film is absolutely destroyed if you watch the dubbed in English version of the film. The voices who do the dubbing are poor and have terrible phony inflections that utterly ruin the tone, texture and mood the film creates. I don't care how lazy you are feeling, you are doing yourself and the filmmakers are real dis-favor by watching the English dubbed version of the film. Watch it in French, the subtitles are easy to read and any effort you might put forth by doing so is well worth it. After you've seen the film if you want to go check out how awful the dub version is, go right ahead. You'll see within a few minutes what I'm talking about and I hope you'll wait until after you see the film the first time before checking the dubbed version out.

DVD STUFF

With A Friend Like Harry is presented in an anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio, and the transfer is very well done. The flesh tones seem to be slightly on the orange side but it's done on purpose and reminds one of the older 50's type of color films such as Vertigo or Rear Window. The colors are slightly over-saturated and tend to bleed slightly but the black levels are very strong and everything appears very clear and bright. I notice very little grain, dirt, dust of scratches on the print used for the transfer.

Both the French and awful English soundtracks are presented in full Dolby Digital 5.1. Stick with the French soundtrack and read the subtitles.

An impressive job has been done on this DVD.

Only three theatrical trailers are your extra features.

Christopher Jarmick, is the author of The Glass Cocoon with Serena F. Holder a critically acclaimed, steamy suspense thriller.

A wicked, jet-black comedy (don't expect a true thriller)
First of all, if you're looking for a good scare then you'll hate this movie. If you're looking for a black comedy that will make you feel guilty to laugh and chuckle at some rather unpleasant goings-on, then I can't think of many other films that will fit the bill! This movie doesn't come out and tell you what it's about--it leaves it ALL up to your imagination. And that is the un-American genius to it (we can't seem to do this in American film anymore). Obviously Harry is a nut (because he's a killer), but do his motivations seem that "off"? Not really, and that's why this is a black comedy and not really a thriller. His motivations aren't really out of lust, greed, or hate, which is what makes it rather disturbing. It makes me think of a Macy Gray song: "you are relating to a psychopath, your role model is in therapy, you must be real far gone, you're relating to a psychopath". That's what this movie is like. You get a chance to hang out with a pyscho--and actually get along with him. It's pretty wild. But don't expect any hair-raising thrills--they do not happen here.

I also got the feeling that this movie is also making very subtle jabs at the Americanization of Europe. Like when Harry bought the 4x4 for Michel and family, Michel didn't want it because he thought 4x4's (we call them SUV's here now) were "vulgar". But he soon enough accepted it, seemingly undisturbed by the fact that his values were pretty easily sold out. Consumerism is making its way to the rest of the world. If you're unhappy, buy a product and enjoy the few minutes of relief it buys you. If it buys you more time (like the 4x4 did), then to hell with your values if they were compromised. These things are not uniquely American, but I think Harry in a way represents the modern American influence on old Europe. Harry did mention that he had some dental work done in America, so we don't know

So there's a lot of things to pick apart in this film. I didn't give it 5 stars because I still feel it's a little too obtuse to be a perfect film (plus it is really nihilistic--was Michel relieved by what happend to his parents???). Maybe I'll see it again in the future and will change my mind, but right now 5 stars doesn't seem right. But it's really a stroke of genius, though you'll never be able to fully explain why.

This movie is a REAL gem!
Skip the spoilers who consider a movie review to comprise a detailed plot summary along with a Psych 101 interpretation. With a Friend Like Harry is a jewel of its kind, Hitchcock would love it. Consider that most of it takes place either indoors or outdoors at night or on menacing serpentine roads. Very claustrophic effects, just like the master himself. And it is devoid of the usual clichéd homages & in-jokes that prevail in the usual Hitchcock wannabe film. It builds smoothly & menacingly, with perfect tempo, the characters are believable to the point of banality - again, just like the master's very best films. But over & above the expert elements of suspense & character & humor that pervade this movie, I would like to add that it is a delicious contemporary reading of the universal Faust legend & to me that is it's ultimate brilliance.