Our Dinner With Andrea (1988)

In Louis Malle’s captivating and philosophical My Dinner with André, actor and playwright Wallace Shawn sits down with friend and theater director André Gregory at an Upper West Side restaurant, and the two proceed into an alternately whimsical and despairing confessional on love, death, money, and all the superstition in between. Playing variations on their own New York–honed personas, Shawn and Gregory, who also wrote the screenplay, dive in with introspective, intellectual gusto, and Malle captures it all with a delicate, artful detachment. A fascinating freeze-frame of cosmopolitan culture, My Dinner with André remains a unique work in cinema history.

The art-house hit of 1981, My Dinner with Andre depicts a dinner conversation between friends Wally and Andre who have lost touch over the years and are finally catching up with each other. The movie focuses on the conversation between the two men, most of which is Andre’s recounting his search for the meaning of life, but they do actually have dinner: Andre orders terrine de poisson (fish pate) and cailles aux raisins (roasted quail with raisins); Wally has the quail also, preceded by potato soup; a small green salad and bread accompany each entree; they also order red wine; and they finish the meal with espresso and, in Wally’s case, a shot of amaretto. While not a “food” movie, My Dinner with Andre does offer the viewer much existential food for thought.

This candid, often-funny drama explores the bittersweet side of friendship through the eyes of two best-friend married couples. Invited to dinner at the suburban home of husband-and-wife food critics Gabe and Karen, Beth reveals she's breaking up with her husband Tom after 12 years of marriage and two children. This unexpected revelation forces Gabe and Karen to reevaluate their seemingly perfect relationship, as well as their friendship with two people who seem to be refusing the life they all once worked so hard to preserve. The drama is set in present-day Connecticut and New York City, with flashbacks to Martha's Vineyard twelve-and-a-half years earlier.

The story begins when a camera crew unearths a thousand year old vampire from Mesopotamia. Years after his rise from the grave, the vampire becomes a famous horror film director and holds auditions for his up and coming film. Four young hopefuls are chosen and are invited to spend the night at the vampire's house. At dinner the vampire reveals his true nature to his guests and the real reason why they are there, to kill him before dawn, as he has grown bored with his existence.

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.

A look at the life of French actor Hervé Villechaize, co-star of the hit '70s TV series "Fantasy Island", who took his own life in 1993 at the age of 50.

A look at the life of French actor Hervé Villechaize, co-star of the hit '70s TV series "Fantasy Island", who took his own life in 1993 at the age of 50.

When the dead wildebeest serving as bait releases it's stomach contents, Boone Smith and a cameraman are trapped in the protective box with no way to escape the foul stench.

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.