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The Closet Movie Review

The Closet is a 2001 French comedy film directed by Francis Veber and starring Daniel Auteuil and Gerard Depardieu. It’s a pretty conventional, but amusing movie.

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“You’re asking me to come out of a closet I’ve never been in!“

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An accountant, with the help of his friend, spreads a rumor about him being gay to avoid getting sacked. What follows are hilarious misunderstandings and squeamish situations. Francis Veber is a very good director for situational and farcical comedies and he showcased that talent in his previous movie ‘The Dinner Game’. This one is of similar quality, but I prefer it due to its clever themes.

The film’s message is quite powerful. The ending where the protagonist finally became a man and stood up to his horrible wife was wonderful. Being a self-respecting man capable of standing up for himself has no relation to the person’s sexuality and the protagonist learning that lesson while pretending to be gay is the movie’s highlight.

Still, The Closet failed to include any other meaningful plot points and its plot firmly moved to the direction that was obvious without ever being anything other than predictable and clichéd. We all know where this is going from the beginning and we get exactly that with no fresh elements added whatsoever.

Daniel Auteuil is terrific as the timid and good-hearted Pignon. You root for the poor guy and when he finally becomes a stronger person you feel happy for him. Gerard Depardieu also impresses in a rather over-the-top, but well-acted and endearing role.

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I did now quite get why the ex-wife and the son were so terrible toward him, especially the son, but the eventual reconciliation between the two was wonderful. The movie’s cast did a great job, but a lot of the characters came off as comedy archetypes.

The highlight has to be the film’s situational comedy in the workplace. The movie cleverly showcased all types of homophobia from the more dangerous to the more curious varieties. The neighbor character was so endearing and the cat subplot was beautiful. I just wish that the storytelling was stronger, but at least the movie flies by how fun and short it is.

The Closet is Francis Veber’s situational comedy that is very predictable and typical in its storyline, but it worked for the most part as the actors did a great job, especially Daniel Auteuil and Gerard Depardieu. The film’s message is excellent and it’s mostly a very entertaining, funny enough flick that flies by due to its short length.

My Rating – 3.5