My Dinner with Andre (1981)

Director:

Louis Malle

Writers:

Andre Gregory (writer)
Wallace Shawn (writer)

Release Date:

11 October 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory, apparently playing themselves, share their lives over the course of an evening meal at a restaurant...

Plot Keywords:

Restaurant | The Little Prince | Philosophy | Sahara | Flag

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Wallace Shawn	...	Wally Shawn
Andre Gregory	...	Andre Gregory
Jean Lenauer	...	Waiter
Roy Butler	...	Bartender

Directed by
Louis Malle

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Andre Gregory		writer
Wallace Shawn		writer

Produced by
Dave Franke	....	associate producer
George W. George	....	producer
Beverly Karp	....	producer
Keith W. Rouse	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Allen Shawn

Cinematography by
Jeri Sopanen

Film Editing by
Suzanne Baron

Production Design by
David Mitchell

Art Direction by
Stephen McCabe

Set Decoration by
Doug Kraner		(as Douglas Kraner)

Costume Design by
Jeff Ullman		(as Jeffrey Ullman)

Makeup Department
Barbara Rouse	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Lloyd Kaufman	....	production manager (as Lloyd Kaufmann)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Norman Berns	....	assistant director

Art Department
Jean-Vincent Fournier	....	properties (as Vincent Fournier)

Sound Department
Michael R. Burnstine	....	boom operator (as Michael Burnstine)
Jean-Claude Laureux	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Pedro Bonilla	....	assistant camera
Robert Lechterman	....	gaffer
Diana Michener	....	still photographer
Ralph Perri	....	key grip
Robert Strong	....	grip
Doug Sutton	....	first electrician (as Douglas Sutton)
John Thomas	....	second electrician
Deborah Watkins	....	grip

Editorial Department
James Bruce	....	assistant editor
Keith W. Rouse	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Joseph Villa	....	musician: piano, "First Gymnopédie"

Other crew
Ruth Ansel	....	title designer
Richard Blankenship	....	production assistant
James Bruce	....	production coordinator
Matthew Gaddis	....	production assistant
George W. George	....	presenter
France Lachapelle	....	script supervisor (as France LaChapelle)
Vincent Malle	....	assistant to director
Richard Siegel	....	production assistant
Michael White	....	associate presenter
Scott MacDonough	....	publicity coordinator (uncredited)

Thanks
Mercedes Gregory	....	special thanks
Dede Leiber	....	special thanks
Steve Leiber	....	special thanks
Margaret Ramsey	....	special thanks
George Ross	....	special thanks
Max Stafford-Clark	....	special thanks
Frederick M. Supper	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Saga Productions Inc.
• The Andre Company

Distributors

• New Yorker Films (1981) (USA) (theatrical)
• Cinegate Ltd. (198?) (UK) (theatrical)
• Criterion Collection, The (2009) (USA) (DVD)
• Fox Lorber Home Video (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• Momentum Pictures Home Entertainment (2001) (UK) (VHS)
• Optimum Home Entertainment (2009) (UK) (DVD)
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (1984) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)

Other Companies

• Atlas Theatre Company Inc.  special thanks
• Gensaco Marketing  certain properties
• Mason Candlelight Company  certain properties
• Norman Winston Foundation  special thanks
• Oneida Silversmiths Inc.  certain properties
• Royal Court Theatre  special thanks
• Saga Productions Inc.  production supervised by
• Syracuse China Inc.  certain properties
• Troma Entertainment  additional production services by
• Upstate Films Inc.  special thanks
• Virginia Film Office  special thanks

Also Known As:

My Dinner with André (USA) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Jefferson Hotel - 101 W. Franklin Street, Richmond, Virginia, USA

Company:

Saga Productions Inc.

Trivia:

Lloyd Kaufman of Troma, Inc. was production manager and his fledgling company provided support to the making of this film. This was one of his first credits.

Goofs:

Continuity: Wallace Shawn's hair varies from neater to mussier and back again.

Quotes:

[last lines]
Wally: [going home in a taxicab] I treated myself to a taxi. I rode home through the city streets. There wasn't a street, there wasn't a building, that wasn't connected to some memory in my mind. There, I was buying a suit with my father. There, I was having an ice cream soda after school. And when I finally came in, Debbie was home from work, and I told her everything about my dinner with Andre.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Melinda and Melinda (2004)

Soundtrack:

Gymnopedie 1

Existential Paradox becomes Celluloid

MY DINNER WITH ANDRE is one of the greatest movies of all time because it works on a seemingly infinite number of levels. Yet at the same time it is one of the biggest failures in film because it only succeeds in connecting to the most insightful of its audience. The resulting paradox only serves to prove the film's lesson to be true. Brilliant!

This is either a movie you will turn off after fifteen minutes, or it is a movie you will watch over and over again to pick up all the things you missed in previous screenings. The former will be bored and lost by the endless, meaningless talk. The latter will find gold in every word, and veins left to be mined time after time.

In simple terms, the question is understood "If life is a stage, are you going to be an actor, a director, or a playwright?" It is the viewer's choice. Wally is a struggling playwright who has fallen back on acting. Andre is a former actor and director who has left the theatre entirely. Wally and Andre meet for dinner, and Andre recounts his experiences since leaving the theatre.

But one of the ironies is that their dinner itself is theatre, and both Andre and Wally have roles to fill. [Notice they wrote the script and use their real names. They are not playing characters. They are necessarily playing themselves.] And summarily the viewer also has a role to fill. If life is a stage, viewing the theatre is in itself theatre. The viewer is now in a place of choosing the role. And will that choice be made mechanically or deliberately? Mechanics is acting. Deliberation is playwrighting.

This is a brilliant, brilliant film. One of the greatest movies of all time. And its resolve is purely subjective to the individual viewer. The goal is to deliberate and come away enlightened (literally). Unfortunately the majority of viewers will act mechanically and turn it off.