With a Friend Like Harry... (2000)

Disturbing yet enthralling

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

In a motorway bathroom, two motorists are drying their hands at the washbasins. One turns and stares at the other. He holds him in his gaze for a long, long time. The second motorist notices, and turns to face the other. He matches his gaze, but the first man does not flinch. Finally, he speaks: "We know each other." From the moment we meet him, we realise there is something not quite right about Harry. This film is peppered with deliciously tense moments like that opening encounter. Harry recites a poem, Harry buys a car, Harry turns up for a visit, and every time little hand-grenades of appropriacy and etiquette go off. And as time passes, it is more than social propriety that is breached.Harry, He's Here to Help is exquisitely observed. Every parent will empathise with the opening car journey with three cranky kids. Put-upon Dad Michel (Laurent Lucas), after the car journey from hell, has the parents from hell to deal with. The parenting of young children is portrayed authentically, as is a long-term marriage gone rancid. Harry (a very scary Sergi López) may be signalling pathology with his crisply ironed shirts, clueless girlfriend, and inability to listen, but who can blame Michel and Claire (Mathilde Seigner) for missing the signs when they have so much more to contend with in their lives, matters for which Harry offers temporary respite. As Claire says, they are quite simply exhausted.In the second half of the film the plot accelerates, and the character portraiture suffers slightly. Michel's younger brother seems to say exactly, and only, the wrong things. He serves merely to push Harry's buttons. Interestingly, a slightly surreal note creeps in, signalled by Michel's obsession with eggs. Harry drives so fast the car seems to take flight - then turns up, apparently from a crash, without a mark on him, his perfectly ironed shirt still crease free. Are we now in Michels' dream? Or one of his stories? Harry is still a visceral threat, and is dealt with in the only way that can set Michel free.Tense, scary and absurd in all the right places, this film evokes Hitchcock, Sexy Beast, Kitano and other lofty references, while remaining a unique, primarily visual and hence visceral piece. Highly recommended.

Michel (Laurent Lucas) is a dedicated family man riding the responsibilities of modern life as he takes his entourage on a family trip. The seemingly perfect life however has started to show cracks - on a sweltering French summer day his air conditioning is packed in, his three children are wearing his patience to breaking point and his wife's ill-thought scorns and put-downs do nothing to alleviate the strain. Couple this with some overbearing parents and a country retreat which is rapidly turning into a money pit and his problems are beginning to snowball more than he appreciates.Enter Harry (Sergi Lopez) an old acquaintance from school and a memory so distant Michel can barely grasp it. A brief conversation in a rest-stop men's room then outside a few minutes later and Harry is inviting himself and his girlfriend Plum (Sophie Guillemin) to the hideaway, waving away all protest in the spirit of camaraderie. Against better judgment Michel's wife Claire (Mathilde Seigner) rides with the disruptive kids to travel in Harry's super-cooled Mercedes....On their first evening at the barn it's apparent that Michel's vague memory is not matched by Harry's. He quotes verbatim from Michel's old school-rag poetry and recalls perfect detail of his early female conquests. Eyebrows are raised but Michel is not overly disturbed by Harry's unusual demeanour, or his post-orgasmic rituals in the small hours. More concern is the garish fuschia paint that Michel's parents have lovingly adorned the bathroom with, totally disparate to the rusticity of the remaining structure, as well as their impending visit. Harry and Plum seem content to want to idle a few days away with their new-found buddies. First things first though, the family motor is in need of attention after leaving Claire stranded the next day and Harry is a man of solutions - and substantial resources. Car trouble? Here's a new one. Enjoy. And although the cash-strapped couple balk at the generosity, Harry is able to justify his actions in his hope to provide a remedy for their immediate difficulties. Motives soon become a little clearer when Harry expresses disappointment at Michel's abandonment in creative pursuits for want of a family idyll that isn't materialising. He sets about clearing a path for his endeavours, convincing him of his unrealised talent and trying to railroad him back to what Harry sees as his priorities. Harry can see Michel's distractions and recognises they are holding him back at every turn so he sets on a course of solutions once more. He is here to help after all, and if help comprises of dispatching the odd nuisance obstacle, then so be it. What use to Michel (and indeed Harry) is a collection of philistines, dim-wits and bickerers when he could be re-imagining his high school masterpiece 'Les Singes Volantes' ('The Flying Monkeys') and fulfilling years of waylaid promise?'Harry' has been described as a modern day Hitchcock thriller and in many ways this is a justified belief. Darkly comic and edgy, Harry is reminiscent of the calm calculated protagonists from 'Rope' albeit with a cooler exterior. A satisfyingly uneasy entry in modern French cinema.

Harry's character reminds me of quite a few strange people I've met in my life (fortunately not to that extent) and I think Moll and Lopez did a pretty good job at making us feel terribly uncomfortable. Harry though not talking new age and flying saucers is easy to spot as first class weirdo with an underlying sickly obsession for Michel. Bad luck for Michel. The obsession probably sprouted during the time they shared at high school and suddenly knows no boundaries. With obvious manipulative tricks he manages to intrude Michel's family life only to end in absolute horror. In this regard, I can't stop thinking of Patricia Highsmith's Ripley, Ferdinand/Freddy (The Collector) and Evelyn Draper ('Play Misty for me'). Despite I enjoyed this film for all the untied subplots and the truly scary weird repulsive Harry, it could have been developed much further psychologically than it is. Michel at some point seems to lose all common sense and moral (which was an interesting idea) then shifts back to 'reason' which lead to a rather boring and unconvincing ending: Michel driving the soundproof, aircon'd 4x4 car Harry has gifted him like nothing ever happened (parents, brother, Harry's girlfriend and Harry all together dead in the cesspool). In my opinion that's the weakness of the film.

I've read the comments, but failed to see the thriller/suspense of this movie. I was excited to see it but felt horribly disappointed after dare I say wasting 2 hours watching it.I found Michele's family interesting enough, but thought Harry's character was rather flat. As the antagonist his motivation etc was never fleshed out and found him rather uninteresting. More goofy than scary. The movie seemed horribly predictable and not Hithcockian at all. I hate current Hollywood and was looking forward to this movie given all the word of mouth surrounding it. Was disappointed overall with it though.