My Dinner with Andre (1981)

Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory, apparently playing themselves, share their lives over the course of an evening meal at a restaurant. Gregory, a theater director from New York, is the more ... See full summary »

Director:

Louis Malle

Writers:

Andre Gregory, Wallace Shawn

Stars:

Wallace Shawn, Andre Gregory, Jean Lenauer

2 wins.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Wallace Shawn	...	Wally Shawn
Andre Gregory	...	Andre Gregory
Jean Lenauer	...	Waiter
Roy Butler	...	Bartender

Storyline

Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory, apparently playing themselves, share their lives over the course of an evening meal at a restaurant. Gregory, a theater director from New York, is the more talkative of the pair. He relates to Shawn his tales of dropping out, traveling around the world, and experiencing the variety of ways people live, such as a monk who could balance his entire weight on his fingertips. Shawn listens avidly, but questions the value of Gregory's seeming abandonment of the pragmatic aspects of life.

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Plot Keywords:

restaurant | talking to a plant | electric blanket | espresso | flag | 

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 October 1981 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ilta Andrén kanssa

Filming Locations:

USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$5,073 (USA) (14 May 1999)

Gross:

$5,073 (USA) (14 May 1999)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Saga Productions Inc., The Andre Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Contrary to popular belief, Gregory and Shawn have said they are not playing themselves in the film and are merely playing characters with their own names. When asked about it, they said if the opportunity ever came to remake the film, they would switch roles.

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Goofs

In some of the scenes where the back of Wally's head facing the camera, the shadow of the boom mic can be seen reflected on Wally's bald head.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Wally: The life of a playwright is tough. It's not easy as some people seem to think. You work hard writing plays and nobody puts them on. You take up other lines of work to make a living - I became an actor - and people don't hire you. So you just spend your days doing the errands of your trade.

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Connections

Referenced in Melinda and Melinda (2004)

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Soundtracks

"Gymnopedie 1"
Written & Performed by Erik Satie

User Reviews

A mighty interesting dinner

Wally Shawn is about to meet a friend he has avoided for several years, Andre Gregory. He has apparently gone mad. The interesting thing is that Shawn and Gregory plays himself, they themselves wrote the script and what they say are supposedly parts of conversations they have actually had over the years.

With this in mind you should already know that you are about to encounter something out of the ordinary.

If you take away the journey to and from the restaurant, which can't have taken up more than a few minutes, all the action takes place around a table. The title says it all. This is Wally dinner with Others. The excitement lies in the words coming out of their mouths, and fortunately their conversation is extremely interesting.

At the beginning it seems like Andre is a maniac, just some crazy person babbling on about nonsense. However, at some point things are starting to make more and more sense. Threads are merged and a serious and highly relevant discussion about life and the roles we play occurs.

The film was never boring and most of what comes up is something to think about. You get this strange "tell me more" feeling, which so few other movies do, or even try to achieve. A very special film I would most warmly recommend.